Gould Island Lighthouse 1902

©1902 by N.L. Stebbins

Location: East Side of Gould Island
1889 - 1947 Lat 41 32 04 N - Long 72 20 38 W
1947 - 1988 Lat 41 32 03 N - Long 72 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.