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Geographic coordinates: 41° 38' 34" N 71° 15' 37" W
Nearest town: Bristol. Located at the end of Ferry Road in Bristol, just west of the Mount Hope Bridge, at the north side of the entrance to Mount Hope Bay.
Established: 1855. Present lighthouse built: 1855. Automated: 1927.
Height of tower: 34 feet. Height of focal plane: 35 feet.
Previous optic: Sixth-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: none.
The strait between Bristol and Portsmouth was busy in the 1800s, with vessels passing between Narragansett Bay to the west and Mount Hope Bay to the east. Congress appropriated $1,500 in 1854 for a lighthouse at Ferry Point in Bristol. A brick dwelling was constructed with a square 28-foot lighthouse tower attached to its southern end. The light was first exhibited on October 4, 1855.
Some keepers’ logs from this lighthouse are in the collection of the Bristol Historical Society. Here are some sample entries:
June 8, 1885 (Keeper Edward P. Hoxsie): Steamer passed by towing a whale 60 ft long.
April 22, 1891 (Keeper Edward Sherman): Schooner Hattie Williams carried away—her topmast in front of the lighthouse.
August 2, 1903 (Sherman): Rescued two men from overturned boat 4:30 p.m.
August 14, 1911 (Sherman): Went to the rescue of two men in an overturned canoe at four p.m.
The Mount Hope Bridge between Bristol and Portsmouth was completed in 1929, leaving the lighthouse irrelevant as an aid to navigation. The lantern was removed from the tower, and the property was sold into private ownership. The building deteriorated and was in deplorable shape when it was sold to Carol and Bob Lundin in 1991. Thanks to the Lundins, the lighthouse was beautifully renovated. To top off the renovation, a new lantern was fabricated and installed, and the lighthouse once again looked like a lighthouse.
The Lundins sold the property in early 2000. It remains in private ownership and is off limits to the public. It can be seen from the end of Ferry Road in Bristol near the Mount Hope Bridge, but parking is not allowed in the vicinity.
Fascinating Fact 
In 1916, this lighthouse’s original lantern was replaced by one from the Rondout Lighthouse on the Hudson River in New York.
