The Graves Light

The Graves Light is a lighthouse located on The Graves, the outermost island of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, and Шаблон:Convert offshore of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

At Шаблон:Convert, it is the tallest lighthouse in the approaches to the Port of Boston, and is an important navigation aid for traffic to and from the port. It was built at the same time that the North Channel into Boston Harbor was dredged to become the principal entrance for large vessels. The Graves are the outermost rocks near the outer end of the North Channel.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Graves Light Station on September 28, 1987, reference number 87002041.

Construction and history

The lighthouse was built in 1905, to a conical design using granite blocks on a granite foundation, and equipped with one of the few first-order Fresnel lens used. The lens assembly stands about 12 ft (4m) tall and is now at the Smithsonian Institution. The light was the setting for the climactic storm in the 1948 film Portrait of Jennie.

Operated by the United States Coast Guard, the light was automated in 1976 and has a characteristic of two white flashes every 12 seconds.

Various sources agree that the ledges were named for a Thomas Graves, but differ on who he was; some prefer a 17th-century English rear admiral; others like a colonial-era American merchant. The USCG history web site shows both. The new owners retained a historian who ascertained that the ledges were named for Rear Admiral Thomas Graves (1605–1653), whose family settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, but who died in an English naval battle against the Dutch in 1653.

The Graves Island Light Station was put up for auction on June 10, 2013, by the U.S. General Services Administration. Opening bid was $26,000. The tenth and winning bid was a record $933,888, the highest price ever paid for a U.S. lighthouse. A Massachusetts couple, David and Lynn Waller, were the buyers of the lighthouse. The lighthouse includes two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a study, but landing is difficult and entering the building requires traversing a Шаблон:Convert ladder. A former caretaker described it like "living in a pipe."

As of 2014, the Wallers were undertaking a major restoration project costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The lighthouse is still being used for navigation using solar panels since 2001.Шаблон:Fact These replaced the need to pump oil from an adjacent building; the walkway to the oil house washed away in 1991.

See also

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Boston, Massachusetts

References

Шаблон:Reflist

External links

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Arrange By:
Eric Herot
26 July 2014
Do not try to land a boat here unless you know what you are doing.
Kenneth McKlinski
18 August 2013
Bidding is up to $670,000 - put your offer in now!
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