Long Point Light Station, Provincetown, Massachusetts
LONG POINT LIGHT
Location: On Long Point, southwesterly side of the entrance to Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod Bay, Provincetown Harbor.
Station Established: 1827
Year Current/Last Tower(s) First Lit: 1875
Operational: Yes
Automated: Yes, 1952
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: Natural, emplaced
Construction Materials: Brick
Tower Shape: Square
Markings/Pattern: White with black lantern
Height: 35-1/2 feet above mean high water
Relationship to Other Structure: Separate
Original Lens: Fifth order
Characteristic: Fixed white
Fog Signal: Fog bell: bell struck by machinery single and double blows alternately, intervals 30 sec.
Historical Information:
* 1826 – 4 acres purchased for light station. Keeper’s house with lantern on top built for $15,000. Oil house and shed built for an additional $1,000.
* 1827 – Lantern lit for the first time.
* 1845 – Pilings added to stop sand erosion from around the lighthouse.
* 1856 – Oil lamps replaced by 6th order lens.
* 1873 – The Lighthouse Board asked Congress for funds to replace the lighthouse.
* 1874 – Congress approved $13,000 for rebuilding the dwelling and tower and erecting a fog signal.
* 1875 – 5th order lens installed in the new light tower.
* 1927 – The power of the light was reduced to 29,000 candlepower.
* 1933 – The fog signal mechanism broke down. The keeper had to ring the bell by hand for over 9 hours straight.
* 1952 – Lighthouse was automated.
* 1982 – Solar panels and a 300 mm lantern installed.
Keepers:
* Charles Derby (1826-1849)
* Charles Derby (Jr.?) (1849-1853)
* Jesse Freeman (1853-1855)
* Daniel Smith (1855-1856)
* Hiram Snow (1856-1862)
* Ebenezer Holway (1862-1867)
* E. H. Whelden (1867-1870)
* John Thomas Dunham (1870-1882)
* Herman Smith (1882-1888)
* Samuel S. Smith (1888-1904)
* Charles A. Havender (?) (1904-1905)
* Roscoe Lopaus (1905-?)
* A. G. Haskins (c. early 1930s)
* Thomas L. Chase (c. 1933)
* Charles Cain (c. 1946)
Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.