Thursday, November 14, 2019

Lighthouse of the Week, November 10-16, 2019: Graves Lighthouse, Massachusetts, USA


One of America's most revered and historical harbors is Boston Harbor.  And the entrance to Boston Harbor features two lighthouses, the Boston Light and Graves Lighthouse (which is officially in Winthrop).  They are less than three miles apart, and note the location of islands that might be hazardous to ships approaching the harbor.

Graves Lighthouse is actually in private hands, having sold for over $900K a few years ago.  And there are Web sites about it:

Graves Lighthouse at New England Lighthouses

Graves Light Station (official home page)

So let's get specs:

Station established: 1905
Present lighthouse built: 1905
Automated: 1976
Construction material: Granite
Other buildings still standing: Oil house
Height of tower: 113 feet
Height of focal plane: 98 feet
Original optic: First-order Fresnel lens
Present optic: VRB-25
Characteristic: Two white flashes every 12 seconds
Fog signal: Two blasts every 20 seconds

That's a good summary.  Now below, pictures and a video.

Note:   they decorated the interior with other pieces of first-order Fresnel lenses. Read about that here.








Boston Light in front, Graves Lighthouse behind

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