a brief history of Seacoast lighthouses

With two shorefront lighthouses on New Hampshire’s few miles of coastline and many other lighthouses in neighboring Maine and Massachusetts, most Seacoast residents are accustomed to the sight of these historic structures. But how much do we really know about them? Now’s your chance to freshen up your local lighthouse knowledge before a holiday celebration at the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse on Aug. 11. 

The first National Lighthouse Day occurred during the summer of 1989, exactly two centuries after the commissioning of the first federal lighthouse. The holiday calls for all lighthouses and lighthouse grounds to be open to the public wherever possible, and the Friends of  Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse have a full day of events planned for Saturday,
Aug. 11. (The actual holiday fell on Tuesday, Aug. 7.) 

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., there will be an open house at the historic 1878 Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in New Castle, where visitors will be allowed to tour both the grounds and the lighthouse, which are normally off limits. The a cappella group “Blue of a Kind” will perform sea chanteys and other nautical tunes appropriate to the setting. Then, at 3 p.m., the festivities move to South Church on State Street in Portsmouth, where the Irish folk group Shannachie will open for the New England Bluegrass Band in a concert to benefit the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. Books about the local lighthouses will be available for signing, including a few by Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse’s co-chairperson, Jeremy D’Entremont. D’Entremont has been writing and photographing lighthouses for almost two decades, and he is a walking encyclopedia of local lighthouse history.

White Island Lighthouse

This 58-foot brick tower stands on White Island, at the southern tip of the Isles of Shoals. The building takes a tremendous beating from the weather, despite being an onshore light. The tower was severely damaged by storms that struck last April, and solar panels that power the light were washed away, along with a historic covered walkway that ran from the keeper’s house to the lighthouse entrance. A nonprofit group called the Lighthouse Kids has been raising money for years to help restore and maintain the building.

Started in 2001 by students at North Hampton Junior High School and teacher Sue Reynolds, Lighthouse Kids has since been expanded to Rye and Winnacunnet schools. The group has more than 50 active student volunteers. Since its creation six years ago, Lighthouse Kids has raised more than $300,000 to help keep the White Island Light from falling into disrepair. Reynolds said the current agenda includes replacing equipment lost in the spring storms and refinishing siding on the northeastern corner of the light. Next year, she hopes to see the historic walkway replaced.

For more information on the Lighthouse Kids, visit their Web Site at www.lighthousekids.org. To view a complete photo guide to New England’s lighthouses by Jeremy D’Entremont, check out http://lighthouse.cc. Tickets to the concert on Aug. 11 are $18 for adults, $10 for children 12-18. Children under 12 will be admitted free. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.portsmouthharborlighthouse.org.

Whaleback Lighthouse

Located in Kittery, Maine, this 50-foot stone lighthouse marks the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor. Whaleback is unique both in its granite siding and its offshore location in the mouth of the Piscataqua River. “It’s one of the first wave-swept lighthouses in the country, being out in open water where it’s open to storms coming in,” said D’Entremont.  “I actually got some pictures of waves going over the top of the lighthouse during one storm.” As an offshore lighthouse, most of the keepers at Whaleback tended to be all-male crews, or “stag crews,” as opposed to the slightly more hospitable onshore stations, which were typically looked after by one lighthouse keeper and his family. “Two keepers actually died out there over the years,” D’Entremont said. “One drowned tending his lobster traps, and his two children flew a distress signal and got picked up by a boat. Another one was painting the fog signal tower and slipped and fell to his death. There were a lot of dangers associated with that job.”

In addition to the obvious dangers, lighthouse keepers had a demanding job, requiring long hours, rain or shine. “They had to be sure that the light was maintained no matter what, all night,” said D’Entremont. “Not every light had a fog signal but most did, and they had to operate those too if the fog was bad. Before electricity, they would have to crank up a machine that would hit the bell with a metal hammer.” Frequently, a keeper’s family would learn how to operate the machinery, just in case he became too ill to work through the night.

Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse

The Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse was first erected in 1771. Originally a 50-foot tall wooden tower, it sported a lighting device that consisted of three separate oil lanterns with copper reflectors. “This was, then, the first lighthouse north of Boston, which is a good indicator of how important Portsmouth was as a port,” D’Entremont said. “It was rebuilt again in 1804 as an 80-foot tall wooden tower, then rebuilt in 1878, which is the light that’s still standing, made with cast iron siding which was typical of lighthouses of the time.” The current automated structure is still fully operable, and D’Entremont said it’s still considered a valuable aid to navigation.

Like many lighthouses in the area, the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse has a few strange stories and legends associated with it. Most of these stories date back to the days before mechanized hardware, when the buildings were operated by eccentric lighthouse keepers, of which the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse seems to have had quite a few. One keeper, Joshua Card, served at the lighthouse longer than anyone else, until the ripe old age of 85. “He had a cow—keepers typically had animals to support their family—and he got into trouble a few times because the cow wandered into the nearby fort (Constitution),” D’Entremont said. “The Coast Guard didn’t really like that very much.” He also seemed to take pleasure in identifying himself with an undeserved title. When asked, Card would tell visitors that the “K” on his uniform stood for “Captain.”

Card’s name comes up frequently in the legend and lore that still surrounds the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. “Some people think the lighthouse is haunted,” D’Entremont said. “We had a few people that investigate haunted places spend the night there a few times. We even had one girl do a recording when nobody else was there. She said into the tape, ‘Who’s there?’ and a male voice was recorded in the background and it was saying ‘Captain.’ I don’t believe everything I hear, but it’s interesting, anyway.”