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Geographic coordinates: 44° 08' 08" N 68° 49' 50" W
Nearest town: North Haven. Located at the eastern end of the Fox Islands Thorofare.
Established: 1890. Present lighthouse built: 1890. Automated: 1963.
Height of tower: 51 feet. Height of focal plane: 51 feet.
Earlier optic: Fourth-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: 250 mm.
Characteristic: Red flash every 6 seconds with a white sector.
Fog signal: One blast every 10 seconds.
Goose Rocks Light is a typical sparkplug-style cast-iron lighthouse of its era, built on a cylindrical cast-iron caisson filled with concrete. The tower has three stories inside, including living quarters.
Charles L. Knight became an assistant keeper in 1926. He later said, “I enjoyed being on this character of light station, for it gave me no worry about my family, as they were nicely located in a fine home on shore and well cared for. My eight-day visit ashore with them was looked forward to every month of the year with much pleasure.”
Jim Woods was part of the Coast Guard crew at Goose Rocks Light, circa 1959–60. He wrote: “It was a three-man crew, with one on liberty at all times. The fog signal was a large brass bell with a mechanism that worked on the same idea as a wind-up watch. It had to be wound up every 4 to 6 hours during periods of fog. . . . Local lobstermen kept us in lobster to eat. All in all, it wasn’t bad duty, as no one was after your job.”
In 2006, under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, the lighthouse was sold to Beacon Preservation (203-736-9300, ext.398, www.beaconpreservation.org). The organization has at times made the lighthouse available for overnight stays.
The lighthouse can be seen distantly from Vinalhaven and North Haven, but it’s best seen by boat. An excellent view is available from the “Lighthouses Boat Trip,” offered by Old Quarry Ocean Adventures (207-367-8977, www.oldquarry.com) of Stonington. Periodic lighthouse cruises offered by the Isle au Haut Company in Stonington (207-367-5193, www.isleauhaut.com) also provide a view.
Fascinating Fact 
For some time after the light was automated, local people—known as “lamplighters”—were employed to control the fog signal.
