Morgan Point Lighthouse

Year Built

1868

Cost

N/A

Type

Octagonal tower with balcony and lantern on front the keeper's house

Height

52 feet

Location

Noank, New London County

Automated Year

N/A

First Lit

1868

Lens Type

Sixth order Fresnel lens - Present optic: None

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

1919

Color

White (tower), black (lantern)

Last Keeper - Date

Charles R. Riley (1919 – 1921)

Description

The lighthouse is privately owned. It is not open to the public and is best viewed by boat.

Brief History

•  As shipbuilding became more prominent in the area, a new lighthouse was needed and the current Morgan Point Lighthouse was built in 1868.
•  Morgan Point Light had a second female keeper in Frances McDonald, who took over for her husband Alexander, a Civil War veteran. Frances McDonald kept the light from 1869 to 1871.
•  The station ended active service in 1921, having been replaced with an automatic beacon positioned on Crooks Ledge in the channel east of the site.
•  The lighthouse property was sold at auction to one Henry M. Hewitt for $8,625 in 1922, and sometime later, the lantern room was removed.
•  In 1991, Jason Pilalas, a Connecticut native but then a partner in a California investment firm, became the third private owner after seeing an ad for the lighthouse in the Wall Street Journal and then acquiring it for $1.29 million.