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Photograph of Edgartown Harbor Light
Photograph by Williamwaterway, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Edgartown Harbor Light

Built in 1828. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.

From the record

“Edgartown Harbor Light is a lighthouse located in Edgartown, Massachusetts, United States, where it marks the entrance to Edgartown Harbor and Katama Bay. It is one of five lighthouses on the island of Martha's Vineyard.”

Wikipedia article Edgartown Harbor Light, CC BY-SA 4.0.

one of 11 National Register listings in Dukes County · listed in 1987 · category: Structure · built in 1828 · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Dukes County.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Off N. Water St., Edgartown, 02539
  • When was it listed? 1987-06-15
  • Category. structure
  • Also known as. Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR
  • Township. Edgartown town
  • When was it built? 1828
  • National Register reference number. 87001465 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

11 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Edgartown Harbor Light between 2018 and 2020, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Fireworks1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
18 July 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 May 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
12 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 April 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 March 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 March 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 November 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Every fire recorded in Dukes County

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 3,701 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 3,701 specimens collected within 10 miles of Edgartown Harbor Light between 1828 and 1975: 2,343 Animalia, 1,018 Plantae, 171 Chromista, 115 Unrecorded, 42 Fungi, 12 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A AND P STARRETT, A. B. Hervey, A. B. Seymour and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
A photograph of the species Tipularia discolor, not of this specimenTipularia discolor (Pursh) Nutt.1828OakesMartha's Vineyard
A photograph of the species Fundulus heteroclitus, not of this specimenFundulus heteroclitus (Linnaeus, 1766)1871not recordedHolmes Hole
A photograph of the species Lomentaria orcadensis, not of this specimenLomentaria orcadensis (Harvey) F.S.Collins ex W.R.Taylor1871W. G. FarlowMartha's Vineyard
A photograph of the species Menidia menidia, not of this specimenMenidia menidia (Linnaeus, 1766)1871not recordedHolmes Hole, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
A photograph of the species Ceramium fastigiatum, not of this specimenCeramium fastigiatum Harvey1874Lusk
A photograph of the species Hydrocotyle umbellata, not of this specimenHydrocotyle umbellata L.1874F. C. CurticeMartha's Vineyard
A photograph of the species Ilex glabra, not of this specimenIlex glabra (L.) A.Gray1874F. C. CurticeMartha's Vineyard
A photograph of the species Ptilimnium capillaceum, not of this specimenPtilimnium capillaceum (Michx.) Raf.1874Francis H. SnowMarthas Vinyard
A photograph of the species Ahnfeltia plicata, not of this specimenAhnfeltia plicata (Huds.) Fr.1875D. C. EatonMartha's Vineyard
A photograph of the species Alosa pseudoharengus, not of this specimenAlosa pseudoharengus (Wilson, 1811)1899not recordedMassachusetts, Katama Bay near Edgartown
A photograph of the species Centropristis striata, not of this specimenCentropristis striata (Linnaeus, 1758)1899B. BeanMartha's Vineyard opposite Woods Hole
A photograph of the species Cepaea hortensis, not of this specimenCepaea hortensis (O.F.Müller, 1774)1899Reid, Rev G D Prime, HenryMartha's Vineyard, Oak Bluffs

All 3,701 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Edgartown Harbor Light: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Grant Brothers Inc Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Dukes County

Storms near this property

7 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Edgartown, the town this property stands in, in 7 storm reports between 2000 and 2021: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2015FloodEdgartown$5,000Beach Road and Main Street were closed in Edgartown due to flooding. In Vineyard Haven, a car was stuck in flood waters on Water Street near the Black Dog bakery. The bakery itself was flooded with a foot of water. Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs was flooded and impassable. In West Tisbury, Beach Road was flooded and impassable in the area of the gas tanks.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindEdgartown$5,000Two trees on Davis Lane were downed by thunderstorm winds and blocked the road.
November 2021Thunderstorm WindEdgartown$300Amateur radio operators reported two mesonet wind gust observations from Edgartown...58 mph at Cape Poge at 615 PM EST and 69 mph at Chappy Ferry Point. The Edgartown Police reported half of a tree down on School Street at 630 PM EST.
January 2018Thunderstorm WindEdgartown-At 335 PM EST, an amateur radio operator in Edgartown reported a wind gust to 58 mph.
November 2014FloodEdgartown-Church Street at Peases Point Way is closed due to flooding.
July 2009HailEdgartown-Penny to quarter size hail fell across Martha's Vineyard.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindEdgartown-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dukes County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Named in the fire insurance atlases

Sanborn surveyors printed an index of the town's establishments at the front of each atlas. This property is named in one, read straight off the scanned sheet.

From the nomination file

1,399 words on record

When this property was proposed for the National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is, and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain. It is reproduced in full on its own page, word for word and never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s typewriter's.

The whole case file for this property - 1,399 words, 11 pages, reproduced complete.

Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 87001465, 11 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Cape Poge Light3.4 miles1987
Union Chapel5.1 miles1990
Tucker, Dr. Harrison A., Cottage5.1 miles1990
Arcade, The5.2 miles1994
MVCMA Tabernacle5.2 miles2005
East Chop Light6.1 miles1987

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 87001465 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Dukes CountyAll 11 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.