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Point Judith Light (Point Judith, Rhode Island)
Point Judith has been referred to as the "Cape Hatteras of New England" because the treacherous waters and rocks off the coast have caused so many ship wrecks. The site was acquired in 1809 from Hazard
Knowles and the first lighthouse at Point Judith was
built in 1810. It was an octagonal wooden tower.
The lighthouse was built to mark the entrance to the Narragansett Bay to
the north and Block Island Sound to the south. The wooden tower was
destroyed by a storm on September 17, 1815 and was replaced in 1816 by a 35-foot stone tower
that was coated with cement. The new
tower contained a revolving light to help differentiate it from the nearby
Beavertail light.
In 1857 the current lighthouse was built to
replace the 35-foot stone tower. It
was a 51-foot octagonal brownstone tower. The lower half was white and the upper
half brown. It
contained a fourth-order Fresnel lens that is still being used today.
A brick dwelling was also built. It was connected to the lighthouse tower
by a enclosed walkway. The U.S. Coast
Guard built additional support buildings and a new larger keeper’s quarters in
1937.
Two other
buildings stand near the lighthouse. The gable-roof one-story building
to the left of the lighthouse in the top picture was the oil house. It was
built in 1917. The other building, a brick one-story building with a hip
roof, was built in 1923 for the purpose of housing the fog signal air
compressor. The horn is located outside the building near the water's
edge. On November 11, 1931 a radio beacon installed at the Point Judith Light became operational. This was the first radio beacon established in Rhode Island. With the help of the radio beacon, ships could then navigate at night and in the fog without the assistance of the light or fog signal. In 2000 the lighthouse underwent a
restoration that included removing and refurbishing the lantern, installing new
six-pane safety glass windows to the lantern room, and replacing some of the
deteriorated brownstone of the tower. The new brownstone was taken from a Cheshire Connecticut
quarry. The lighthouse is located on an active Coast
Guard station that is easy to get to and the grounds are accessible and open to
the public during the day.
Directions: From US 1 in Wakefield RI, turn onto Route 108 (Point Judith Road) and follow it south to the end. Turn right on Ocean Road and follow it to the lighthouse.
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All pictures are the original work of Rick Totton and are protected under copyright laws. Do not reproduce any images from this website without permission of the author. Copyright (c) 2000 Rick Totton.
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The light was electrified in 1939 and was
automated in 1954.
