Old Field Point Lighthouse

Year Built

1823

Cost

$12,000

Type

Octagonal Tower

Height

34 feet

Location

Old Field

Automated Year

1991

First Lit

1869

Lens Type

Fourth order Fresnel lens (original), "Modern Beacon" (current)

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

1933-1991

Color

Black. Originally white with black lantern.

Last Keeper - Date

Richard E. Ray (1900 – 1933)

Description

The lighthouse is open to the public by appointment.

Brief History

•  The next keeper was Walter Smith, who took over in June 1827. When he passed away in April 1830, his wife Elizabeth, who was already familiar with station duties from assisting her husband, took over as head keeper.
•  In 1886, Capt. Francis Weller of the schooner Stony Brook filed a complaint with the Lighthouse Board against Keeper Charles F. Jayne, accusing him of refusing to come to the ship’s aid when it had run onto the rocks near the lighthouse and broken up.
•  A partition was put up in the station’s original dwelling in 1888 to provide a barn for the keeper, and in 1902, a brick oil house was added to the station.
•  Old Field Point Lighthouse was deactivated in 1933, after having been replaced by a beacon atop a nearby steel tower.
•  The keeper’s dwelling from the 1824 lighthouse has served as the village hall since 1963.