BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
LIGHTHOUSES OF MASSACHUSETTS THEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION LIGHTHOUSE INFORMATION FORM MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116 PHOTOGRAPHKEY L.L. Fox, MHC, 1980 SKETCH MAP Newburyport Light Merrimack Rive Plum Island - ATLANTiC ocean RECORDED BY: L. Fox/N. Salzman ORGANIZATION: MHC DATE: July 9, 1981 NUMBER 29 HISTORIC NAME: Newburyport Harbor Light TOWN: Newburyport LOCATION: Northern Blvd., Plum Island COUNTY: Essex CODE:_009 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 6th LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Essex County Registry of Deeds (Act of Cession, Cormonwealth of MA to U.S.,1790) VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: The nomination is confined to the light itself. LAT./LONG.:42°48'58"7049'10W UTM COORDINATE: 19/351/600/4741/600 USGS QUADRANGLE : BOSTON,MA:NH;CT;RI ;ME SCALE:1:250,000 ACREAGE : .3 acres OWNER (S) : U.S.
Coast Guard (light only; remainder of property disposed of in 1951 to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) 408 Atlantic Avenue, Boston 02210 STATUS: Active/Urmanned LIGHTHOUSES OF MASSACHUSETTS THEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION* Lighthouse #29 page 1 The lighthouse (dating from 1788, rebuilt in 1898, altered ca. 1980 - see Chronological History) and the keeper's house remain as original elements. Because the house is no longer owned by the Coast Guard and because their original elements. Because the house is no longer owned by the Coast Guard and because their original relationship has been obscured by later infill, only the light is included in the nomination. Exterior: The 50' white shingled tower is cylindrical, with a black cast-iron Tens room and roof. Shingles: Each exterior shingle reveals 5", and seems to have a random width.
Foundation: The original wood foundation was replaced by cement to reinforce the structure. Access is gained into the tower by stepping directly up to the door frame. Door: There are presently two doors: the first, a storm door, is a single plywood board, and the second is a four-panel wooden door with a round brass handle. Both doors are painted grey. here is a seamental hood over th second door with copper flashing and 3" x 5" fixed panes Interior: The cement floor of the tower has a radius of 7' 2". The interior walls are brick, covered with wooden diagonal sheathing, which is 3" rough sawn pine with exposed cut nails and a 1 3/4" lathing. The lower level of the tower (about 8 feet) has been sheathed with large plywood boards. Walls: The walls appear to have covered at one time by plaster but it has since been removed and the diagonal lath revealed.
It is now being resheathed with 4' x 8'pl ywood. Staircase: A full staircase built into the exterior wall has thirty wooden steps and a wooden balustrade that ascend to a wooden landing. The railing and balusters are of polished molded wood, probably hand-carved. Each step has a simple moulding under the riser. The steps, all painted grey, have been reinforced on the underside by slender aluminum straps running from the bottom of the step to the railing. Window: The only window in the tower is located on the first landing, in the 1amp room. It measures 28" x 42" to the sill, and projects outwards with the cant of the tower. This window is set in 3 1/2" at the bottom and 6 1/4" at the top. The casing is 43 1/2". Lamp Room: A cupboard with no door is located inside the lamp room. It measures 13 1/2" x 38" x 82".
A ten tread boxed wooden ladder rises directly to the lens room, and it has rounded ends, and each step is 7 3/4" x 1 1/4" x 25" wide. Lens Room: Access to the octagonal lens room is gained through a wooden trap door. The floor is wood planks, but the walls on the interior and exterior areutrgsi and the room itself is round.The diameter of the lens room is - The iron wall rises 42" to the windows. Of the eight window panes, the one to the northwest has been blacked out (toward the town of Newburyport). Each pane is 36" high, 32" wide on the curve of the wall, and 48" across diagonally. The mullions are 3" x 1 1/2". LIGHTHOUSES OF MASSACHUSETTS THEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION Lighthouse #29 page 2 Newburyport Harbor Light is located at the north end of Northern Boulevard, on Plum Island.
The island lies in Ipswich Bay, due east from the original towns in Newbury (part now called Newburyport), Ispwich, and Rowley. It is about 9 miles long from north to south, and one mile from east to west. The northern end, on which the lighthouse is located, is the south shore of the mouth of the Merrimac River. Look ing west from this point is Newburyport Harbor with its two Range Lights (#30). The light is set in slightly from the beach, though within walking distance. It was constructed on sandy but firm ground, and thereby protected from the continuously changing shoreline. IIGNTHOUSES OF MASSACHUSETTS THEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION Lighthouse #29 page 3 Vents: Four uncovered round vents are located at mid-point on every other wall around the lens room. An iron half door leads to the balcony. automatic plastic lens stands in the center of the lens room on a 45' high cylinder.
Balcony: A microwave radar system has been attached to the railing, which in turn operates a closed-circuit television. This unique and efficient fully automated TV allows the Merrimack River Coast Guard Station to closely monitor activity in the channel. The balcony is sheathed with lead and covered by asphalt square to insure safe footing. 41" high iron posts support two 2 1/4" bands of iron railing 10 1/2" above the balcony. There are 24" between posts, which are each topped with an iron knob. Astragals holding the panes of glass in place are beveled, 1" wide. Roof: The eight segments of the conical roof are topped by a large ball-shaped vent that originally permitted smoke to escape. A lightning rod is fixed at the peak of the roof.
Lighthouse #29 page Inuuso dinonoeo lUSETTS j HEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION " 1788 - Two small wooden lighthouses were built at the entrance of the Merrimac River on Plum Island. This marked the eleventh lighthouse built in the U.S. They were moved quite often, "sometimes considerable distances", because of the shifting sands and water of the channel. 1790 - The lighthouses were ceded to the federal government. 1856 - New Fresnel lenses were installed. 1864 - A "Bug Light" in the nearby channel was moved due to land shifting. 1867 - One of the two lights was moved 90' to make a new channel. 1869 - The lighthouses were moved one third of a mile northeast as close to the channel as possible. Apparently, the sands had shifted to such an extent that the lights were too far inland and were difficult to see from the ocean approach.
1870 - The Lighthouse Board decided that these lights were of great importance and should have stronger lamps installed and should as well be rebuilt of sturdier materials. 1874 - The towers were moved 75' to the south. (From 1874 through 1908 there were more than one hundred shipwrecks on the near Plum Island.) 1881 - Charles I. Pettengill of Plum Island inherited the land on which the lighthouses were located, claiming the lighthouses were thereby on private property. A land battle was begun which was not settled until 1887. The decision by former U.S. Attorney General George P. Sanger, stated that the Tand had in fact been ceded to the United States in 1790 and that Pettengill had no legal title to it. froctos en ap ed ro ectrtted scalas in 1887 - Lard oil lamps in the front light were replaced by mineral oil lamps for greater illumination and less maintenance.
A stone tower was begun to replace one of the two wooden lights, but it was never completed. 1890 - The channels shifted extensively and construction was halted on the stone tower. Jetties were built to stop the channel from changing direction and shape. 1898 - The jetties proved successful and the present white conical tower was built apparently incorporating parts of the one of the original 1788 towers. 1917 - Channelhad shifted direction completely by this time, and small range lights were added on the north side of the Merrimack River to aid navigators dur ing the 1920's. During Prohibition, more than twenty thousand bottles of bootleg whiskey were confiscated in this immediate area. 1951 - The Coast Guard disposed of 363' x 265.5' of land as excess, including the keeper's dwelling, the garage, and the oil house. Only the land immediately surrounding the tower was retained.
1972 - The 4000 candlepower Fourth Order Fresnel electric light was visible for twelve miles. LiGniruusco UF MASSACHUSEIIS THEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION Lighthouse +29 page 5 1981 - A fully automatic plastic lens replaced the Fresnel lens. Within the two years or so, the interior plastic walls of the tower were stripped reveal exposed lapstrake. The floor was torn up and cement filled in (foundation was strengthened). HVVEO UT IADSACHUSETTS i PHEMANC GROUP NOMINATION Lighthouse #29 page 6 The Newburyport Harbor Light possesses integrity of (general) location design, setting, materials, and workmanship as well as important associations with the development of aids to navigation in Massachusetts.
Located at the mouth of Merrimack River, it is the site of the eleventh lighthouse built in the U.S., a site which has been continuously maintained despite the major problems of shifting sands and channels which have necessitated short moves for the liaht several t1mes . Additionally, the present light, which was constructed in 1898, is believed to incorporate elements of one of the original 1788 twin lights, giving it some claim to the title of oldest extant light in the state. Despite alteration of the remainder of the complex, the light tower itself meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the state level as well as survey criteria 2a. LIGHTHOUJES OF MASSACHUSETTS THEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION -N Merrimac River + Beach appoax. 2 Newburyport Harbor Light PlumIsland #29 Northern Boulvard 3. 1. Tower 2. Dwlling 3.
Modem garoge "NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet Item number OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use anly received MAY 4 98T date entered Page 274 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name State Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR MASSACHUSETTS Nomination/Type of Review 11. Minot's Ledge Light 82. Nauset Beach Light 13. Ned Point Light 14. Newburyport Harbor Light antered in the Iate:omn1 Bogdstex Treoper Attest 1. Bogd.star Fkeeper Attest batered in tlae Matlomel Rogister fifeeper Attest rered in tie Mstiorel lasdater fKeeper Attest Okeeper Date/Signature AilarBgar61518 Aeloubogar e/574 Seloue Bogar alotoi Ailuus Byen 6/1518, *p5. Newburyport Harbor Front Range Light Htensd Sationl Regtater {6.
Nobska Point Light Station stered in Nationel Registar 17. Race Point Light Station delreeBgen61077, Attest teopr SilruBgur 6/079. Attest frkeeper Delur Byer 6hett, 48. Sankaty Head Light p9. Scituate Light 20. Straightsmouth Island Light Broni 802 Hetered1m mitand Roetotor Okeeper SuenaByenofkte Attest aatoicad Jeboei Rogister Keeper AelaresByen 6/06 Attest NHOX fheeper AelouByen 6/5/87 Attest 87001485 WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET Newburyport Harbor Light (Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR) Essex County MASSACHSUETTS X resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: - sample Reviewer's comments: Lrequest Working No. $2882 Fed. Reg.
Date: 2288 Date Due: _ 4/18/81 Fatered im tine Action: 6-/5-87 Mationol -RETURN _REJECT Federal Agency: - USCGDOT Lappeal LNR decision Recom./Criteria Reviewer _ Discipline _ Date . see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: _technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Category Ownership Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Has this property been determined eligible? yes no 7. Description Condition J excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one -unaltered altered Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use Check one original site I moved date- 8.
Significance Period Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Specific dates Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) Builder/Architect - summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked I relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of exception other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national state local State Historic Preservation Officer signature title date 13. Other -Maps -Photographs JOther Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Signed..
- Date - Phone: - GPO 918-450 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet NEWBURYPORT HARBOR LIGHT NEIVBURYPORT, MA #30 PHOTO #I OFI LiGHTHOUSES OF MASSACHUSETTS THEMATIC GROUP NOMINATION Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000282