Nash Island Light

Nash Island Light, Nash Island, Pleasant Bay, Maine

Built in 1838.

NASH ISLAND LIGHT

SE MOUTH OF PLEASANT BAY 
Station Established: 1838 
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1874 
Operational? NO 
Automated? YES 1958 
Deactivated: 1982 
Foundation Materials: SURFACE ROCK 
Construction Materials: BRICK 
Tower Shape: SQUARE 
Markings/Pattern: WHITE 
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE 
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1874

Historical Information:

• This station included a one-room schoolhouse.
• 1838 – Lighthouse built.
• 1874 – Current tower built, 4th order Fresnel installed.
• 1875 – Keeper’s house built.
• 1888 – Fog bell installed.
• 1946 – Characteristic changed from fixed red to flashing white. The fog bell was discontinued.
• 1958 – Lighthouse automated. All structures, except the tower itself, dismantled.
• 1982 – Lighthouse discontinued, replaced by an offshore buoy.

Keepers: 

• John Wass (1847-1853)
• Daniel Curtis (1853-unknown)
• Enos D. Wass (1865-1872)
• Edwin K. Heath (1872-1876)
• Nehemiah Guptill (1876-1881)
• Roscoe G. Lophaus (1881-1883)
• Charles S. Holt (1883-1902)
• Osmond Cummings 
• Allen Carter Holt (1910-1916)
• John Purington (1916-1935)
• Edwin Pettegrow (c. 1930s)
• Larson Alley (unknown-1947)
• Edward Wallace (1947-1958) 

Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.