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Historical Materials: Flags, Lighthouses, & Navigation Aids

Historical Materials  »  Flags, Lighthouses, & Navigation Aids  »  Gloucester, Mass. – Annisquam Harbor Lighthouse

Gloucester, Mass. – Annisquam Harbor Lighthouse

The Annisquam Light was built at Wigwam Point on the east side of the northern entrance to the Annisquam River. In its early years the Annisquam Harbor was an important shipping and fishing destination; the Annisquam Light was built in 1801 to mark the entrance to the Annisquam Harbor. The original Annisquam Lighthouse was a 32-foot-tall wooden tower and adjoining wooden keeper's house; the house still stands today. Over the years the wooden tower was plagued by rot and in such terrible shape that it was held up by wooden spars. An inspection report from I.W.P Lewis stated that the Annisquam Light needed "rebuilding entirely". To fix the problems concerning the Annisquam Light, a new 40-foot-tall octagonal tower was built in 1851, a fifth-order Fresnel lens was added in 1857, and a 109-foot covered walkway linking the keeper's house and tower was constructed in 1867.

 This information has been shared with the Lane project by Jeremy D'Entremont. More information can be found at his website, www.newenglandlighthouses.net or in The Lighthouse Handbook New England. This information has also been summarized from Paul St. Germain's book, Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations on Cape Ann.

map
1851 Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport (detail of Annisquam River)
H. F. Walling
1851
44 x 34 in.
Henry Francis Walling, Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport, Essex Co. Massachusetts. Philadelphia, A. Kollner, 1851
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive

"Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts. H.F. Walling, Civil Engineer. John Hanson, Publisher. 1851. Population of Gloucester in 1850 7,805. Population of Rockport in 1850 3,213."

photo (historical)
Annisquam Lighthouse
1860s
Photograph
Courtesy George Garland
Photography courtesy of : http://www.newenglandlighthouses.net

Shows the lighthouse built in 1851.

Citation: "Flags, Lighthouses, & Navigation Aids." Fitz Henry Lane Online. Cape Ann Museum. http://fitzhenrylaneonline.org/historical_material/index.php?type=Flags%2C+Lighthouses%2C+%26+Navigation+Aids§ion=Gloucester%2C+Mass.+%E2%80%93+Annisquam+Harbor+Lighthouse (accessed December 9, 2024).
Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
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