Charles Allen of Kingston, Rhode Island built the lighthouse, a stone keeper's dwelling with an octagonal wooden light tower attached to the roof, in 1831. Samuel Thomas, Jr was appointed Poplar Point's first keeper in November of that year. He was paid $300 a year.
Poplar Point Lighthouse 's illuminating apparatus consisted of eight Argand lamps with concave reflectors arranged around two hoops. The Argand lamp looks like a kerosene lamp. The reflector was 14 inches in diameter and weighed three pounds. In 1855, they were replaced by a sixth order steamer lens lens and an Argand lamp.
The lighthouse was discontinued in 1882. It was replaced by the Wickford Harbor Lighthouse.
On October 15, 1894, Poplar Point Lighthouse was sold, at public auction, to Albert R. Sherman for $3,944.67. In later years, it was added to, by subsequent owners, altering its original appearance.
| Polpar Point Lighthouse and Wickford Harbor Lighthouse in 1900 |
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| Courtesy of N.L. Stebbins |
See more of Poplar Point Lighthouse in Rhode Island Lighthouses: A Pictorial History by R Holmes.