Bristol
Ferry Light
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Courtesy of
National Archives
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Location: Entrance
to Mount Hope Bay
 1855 - present Lat 41
38 58 N - Long 71 15 39 W
Established: 1855
Lighthouse Constructed:
1855
Deactivated: 1929
Original Illuminating
Apparatus: Fourth Order Fresnel Lens
Current Illuminating
Apparatus: None
Height: Lighthouse:
34 feet
 Skeleton tower: 30 feet (1927 - 1930)
Status: Private Residence
Light Characteristic:
Lighthouse: Fixed White (1906)
 Skeleton tower: Flashing Green every 3 seconds (1927 - 1930)
None (2005)
Range: Lighthouse:
11 miles (1906)
 Skeleton tower: 9 miles (1927 - 1930)
None (2005)
In 1853 a petition was sent to the Lighthouse Board requesting
that a government lighthouse be built at Bristol Ferry, a narrow
strait that connects Mount Hope Bay and Narragansett Bay. The
Old Colony Steamboat Company maintained a wooden light tower
to aid its ships through the strait, but it was weak and unreliable.
One of its signers, William Brown, Master of the Steamer Bay
State, felt so strong about the need for a government light that
he wrote a letter to the Lighthouse Board. In it he stated, "There
is probably no locality in the country, certainly none within
my knowledge, where a lighthouse is so needed." Within months
of receiving his letter, Congress appropriated $1,500 build the
lighthouse.
Bristol Ferry light, a square brick tower and attached keeper's
dwelling, was completed in 1855 and was first lighted on October
4. It was built fifty-three feet northwest of the old light.
An inspection in 1916 found the wooden lantern to be in such
bad condition that it had to be replaced. An iron lantern, from the discontinued Rondout light in New York,
replaced it.
Bristol Ferry Light was discontinued in 1927 when construction
started on the Mount Hope Bridge. A light on a skeleton tower
replaced it. The lantern and Fresnel lens were removed when the
light closed. After the bridge was completed in 1929, the tower
was removed.
In 1929, the Bureau of Lighthouses held a public auction to sell
Bristol Ferry. The bids were opened on April 4. Anna Santull
placed the highest bid, $2,050. This was well below the property's
estimated value of $3,900. The Bureau of Lighthouses accepted
her bid because the property had been heavily advertised and
it was doubtful that readvertising it would have brought a higher
bid.
After years of disrepair, new owners renovated the lighthouse
in the early 1990's. During the renovation a new mahogany lantern
was placed on the tower. In May 1999, Bristol Ferry was put up
for sale, with a $469,000 asking price.
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