Hog Island Lighthouse

Year Built

1853

Cost

$125,000

Type

Octagonal pyramidal skeleton

Height

194 feet

Location

Hog Island

Automated Year

N/A

First Lit

1853 (first) - 1896 (second)

Lens Type

First-order Fresnel Lens

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

1948

Color

N/A

Last Keeper - Date

Walter J. Wescott (1933 – 1938)

Description

Demolished – site under water

Brief History

•  An appropriation of $5,000, approved March 2,1889, was made to establish and complete a wharf and roadway to the present light-house at Hog Island.
•  Erosion caused the need to rebuild the light. A replacement was completed and lit in 1896. The new structure was a black steel skeletal tower.
•  1906, The structures, erected in June, 1905, were lighted May 1, 1906. One month later, because of the undermining and dangerous condition of the front structure, both lights were discontinued until further notice.
•  Deactivated in 1948 and the lens was put on display in the Newport News Mariners Museum.
•  In November 2004 the lens was put on display in a glass enclosed pavilion on the Portsmouth waterfront.