Gould
Island Light
Gould Island Lighthouse 1902  |
©1902 by N.L. Stebbins |
Location:
East Side of
Gould Island
 1889 - 1947 --Lat
41 32 04 N - Long 71 20 38 W
1947 - 1988 --Lat 41
32 03 N - Long 71 20 36 W
Established: 1889
Lighthouse Constructed: 1889
Deactivated: 1947
Original Illuminating Apparatus:
Fifth Order Fresnel Lens
Current Illuminating Apparatus:
None
Height: Lighthouse:
30 feet (1906)
 Skeleton tower: 24 feet (1986)
None (2005)
Status: No Longer Exists
Light Characteristic: Lighthouse: Flashing White every 30 seconds (1906)
 Skeleton tower: Flashing
White every 6 seconds (1986)
None (2005)
Range: Lighthouse:
12½ miles (1906)
 Skeleton tower: 8 miles
(1986)
None (2005)
The first light on Gould Island was a private light maintained by the Old Colony
Steamboat Company. In 1885 the Lighthouse Board wanted to build a government light
on the island. It didn't want the ships which pass Gould Island, carrying thousand
of passengers, to be jeopardized by the failure of the light.
A keeper's
dwelling and a thirty feet conical brick tower were built on the northeast side
of the island. It was equipped with a fifth order Fresnel lens.
Gould
Island was heavily wooded. When ships approached the island from the south, trees
would sometime block the light. In 1932, after years of complaints Gould Island
South Light, a light on a skeleton tower, was built on the southern tip
of the island.
Gould Island Light was decommissioned on March 17, 1947.
Its log states that all the equipment was removed and the building was padlocked.
A light on a skeleton tower replaced it. The lighthouse was reportedly torn down
in 1960, but I have not been able to verify this. On October 24, 1988, the skeleton
tower's base crumbled and the tower fell over. It was not replaced.
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