Burnt Coat Harbor Light

Year Built

1872

Cost

Unknown

Type

Square Brick Tower

Height

33 feet

Location

Harbor Road, Swans Island

Automated Year

1975

First Lit

1872

Lens Type

Fourth order Fresnel Lens

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

Avtive

Color

White

Last Keeper - Date

Philip Felch ( – 1975)

Description

The light station consists of the main tower and three buildings: a keeper's house, bell house, and oil house, set on 3 acres (1.2 ha) at the southernmost tip of Hockamock Point. The tower is a square brick structure 32 feet (9.8 m) in height, with a ten-sided lantern chamber surrounded by an iron walkway with railing. It is capped by a round ventilator.

Brief History

•  Appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant in January 1872, Keeper Allen received the logbook in April 1874 and only made entries when he felt something was noteworthy.
•  The winter of 1874-1875 was so cold that Allen repeatedly had to heat the lard oil for the lights on his stove before carrying it to the top of the towers to power the lights. The tendency of lard oil to congeal in cold weather led to the adoption of kerosene in 1877.
•  On February 10, 1875, Keeper Allen recorded that the area was frozen solid, and it was possible to walk five miles to the town of Brooklin.
•  In 1982, the Coast Guard tried to save some money by stripping the tower of its peeling paint and sealing it instead of having to regularly paint the tower.
Unfortunately, the redbrick tower in its natural state was difficult to distinguish from a dark background of pine trees, and resultant complaints led the Coast Guard to paint it white again.
•  Burnt Coat Lighthouse on Hockamock Head was transferred to the Town of Swan’s Island from the Coast Guard in 1993, after Congress approved the necessary legislation.