Wood End Lighthouse

Year Built

1872

Cost

$15,000

Type

Square, pyramidal

Height

39 feet

Location

Provincetown

Automated Year

1961

First Lit

1872

Lens Type

Fifth-order Fresnel lens[1] (original), VRB-25 (current)

Fog Signal

Horn:one 3-second blast every 30 seconds

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

White with black lantern - (originally painted brown)

Last Keeper - Date

Clarence E. Allison (at least 1950)

Description

A tower with wooden keeper's house, storage shed and oil house.

Brief History

•  In 1896 a second keeper’s house, an oil house and a shed added to the station.
•  1911, A stone breakwater built, allowing more direct access between the light station and the town at low tide.
•  In 1927 The Navy submarine S-4 and Coast Guard Cutter Paulding collided ½ mile south of the lighthouse, killing 42 men.
•  Lighthouse was automated and all outbuildings, except the oil house, razed. Fifth order lens replaced by aero-beacon in 1961.
•  Although the Coast Guard still owns Wood End Lighthouse, the American Lighthouse Foundation was granted a license in 1998 to maintain the structure.