Gould
Island Light
Gould Island Lighthouse 1902
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©1902 by N.L. Stebbins
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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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