Accessibility: 
Geographic coordinates: 41° 35' 32" N 70° 54' 02" W
Nearest city: New Bedford. Located at Fort Taber Park on the west side of the entrance to the Acushnet River and New Bedford Harbor.
Established: 1797. Present lighthouse built: 1869. Deactivated: 1898. Relighted: 2001.
Height of focal plane: 68 feet.
Characteristic: Fixed white.
New Bedford’s whaling industry flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, making the city one of the richest in the world. Clark’s Point was an ideal location for a navigational aid to help mariners heading to the city’s harbor. Local merchants erected the first wooden lighthouse on the point in 1797. To celebrate the lighthouse, a 100-gallon pot of chowder was prepared.
The tower burned down about a year later and was promptly rebuilt. Another fire destroyed the tower on August 5, 1803. Congress appropriated $2,500 for a new lighthouse. An octagonal rubblestone tower 38 feet tall was completed in 1804.
In 1857, a new fort began to take shape next to the lighthouse. The walls of the fort blocked the view of the light, so in 1869 a rectangular wooden tower was erected on the northerly wall of the fort. The old stone tower remained standing until 1906, when it was demolished. In 1898, the establishment of Butler Flats Light offshore rendered Clark’s Point Light obsolete. The light on the fort was discontinued in April 1898.
After falling victim to neglect and vandalism, the lighthouse was restored in 2000–01. City crews rebuilt the wood-frame upper portion of the lighthouse, and a new lantern was fabricated. A gala relighting ceremony was held on the evening of June 15, 2001.
Fascinating Fact 
Edward Howland, who became keeper here in 1835, was taken prisoner during the American Revolution and survived 15 months of captivity in Edinburgh Castle.
Fort Taber Park and the lighthouse are reached by following Route 18 in New Bedford to a traffic light at its southern end. Turn left at the light and continue for two miles to the park entrance at 1 E. Rodney French Boulevard. The fort and lighthouse are not open to the public, but good photo opportunities are available from the grounds.
For more on Fort Taber Park, visit www.newbedford-ma.gov/Tourism/Attractions/FortTaberPark.html or call 508-979-1487. You can also call the New Bedford Office of Tourism and Marketing for information on tours of the fort: 1-800-508-5353. The Fort Taber Historical Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Fort Taber and its history; you can read about the group at www.forttaber.org.
