Prudence Island Lighthouse (Sandy Point Lighthouse), Prudence Island, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Built in 1852.
PRUDENCE ISLAND (SANDY POINT) LIGHT
Location: EAST SIDE SANDY POINT/NARRAGANSETT BAY
Station Established: 1852
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1823
Operational? YES
Automated? YES 1961
Deactivated: n/a
Foundation Materials: NATURAL/EMPLACED
Construction Materials: GRANITE BLOCKS
Tower Shape: OCTAGONAL
Markings/Pattern: WHITE TOWER W/BLACK LANTERN
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE
Original Lens: FIFTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1852
HISTORICAL INFORMATION:
- In 1862 a white octagonal tower for a lighthouse was built on Sandy Point on the east side of Prudence Island, R. I. With the tower was built a keeper’s dwelling.
- During the terrible September hurricane of 1938, five persons, including the wife of the lighthouse keeper, were carried out to sea and drowned, when the dwelling house on the lighthouse reservation was swept away by the savage fury of the tropical gale. The keeper was also thrown into the sea, but another wave swept him back ashore. The light itself is only 28 feet above water and is visible for 10 miles, flashing green every 6 seconds. The light is now unwatched, being a 1,400-candlepower fourth-order electric. A bell renders one stroke every 15 seconds during fog.