September 14 – First Lighthouse in North America (at least – the first RECORDED one!)

September 14, 2021

Posted on September 14, 2021

This is an update of my post published on September 14, 2010:

September 14 - First Lighthouse in North America (at least - the first RECORDED one!)

This day in 1716 marked the completion of the first (recorded) lighthouse in North America. It was built on Little Brewster Island in Boston, as Boston had become the commercial center of shipping in colonial days.

A lighthouse is a tower or other sort of structure designed to emit light from lamps and lenses (or even torches). It is an important aid to ship captains as they navigate, especially as they enter harbors or skirt around rocks and reefs.

Early lighthouses probably used torches as the light source.

Above are some old-time lamps used in lighthouses.

In order to have light that shines out in straight, far-reaching beams from the lighthouse tower, a French physicist named Augustin-Jean Fresnel designed a kind of stepped lens – with each “step” bending light in order to create parallel rays.

These Fresnel lenses are gorgeous, aren’t they?

In 1719, the Boston lighthouse added a cannon to answer ships in a fog. Some later lighthouses used bells to alert folks on fog-bound ships and boats, and even later compressed-air foghorns were used. Now many lighthouses have foghorns that mariners can activate whenever they need help navigating in fog.

The Boston Lighthouse on Little Brewster Island was destroyed by the British during the Revolutionary War. It was rebuilt in 1783. Because of this, the lighthouse we see and enjoy today is not the oldest lighthouse on the continent (a lighthouse in New Jersey enjoys that honor) – it is only the second oldest!

I really like the name of the first Boston Light keeper: George Worthylake. Isn’t that a cool name for someone who lives on an island?

Unfortunately, I discovered two things that are not at all cool: (1) Mr. Worthylake was a slave-owner; enslaved man Shadwell lived with the Worthylake family. (2) Poor Shadwell drowned, along with Mr. Worthylake, two members of the family, and a friend. They were going back to the island in a rowboat when the boat capsized and all hands were lost. Benjamin Franklin wrote about this Lighthouse Tragedy when he was just 12 years old.

There is lots more interesting history about this first North American lighthouse…

…But how about some world perspective?

The first known lighthouse was the Pharos of Alexandria in Egypt. Ptolemy I and his son had it constructed between 300 and 280 BC (BCE). This lighthouse, which was between 383 to 44 feet tall (115 to 135 meters), was among the tallest human-made structures in the world for centuries and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. It was destroyed by several bouts with invaders and earthquakes, being utterly demolished by the 1300s.

The oldest still-existing lighthouse in the world is considered to be La Torre de Hercules (Hercules Tower) in La Coruna, Spain. It was built by the Romans around 20 BC (BCE).