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Geographic coordinates: 41° 23' 25" N 70° 02' 54" W
Nearest town: Nantucket. Located at the northernmost point of the island of Nantucket.
Established: 1784. Present lighthouse built: 1986.
Height of tower: 60 feet. Height of focal plane: 71 feet.
Previous optic: Third-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: VRB-25.
The area between between Nantucket and Monomoy Island to the north was one of the busiest sections of the Atlantic Coast for many years. In 1784, the General Court of Massachusetts agreed to erect a lighthouse at Great Point, and a wooden tower was completed by the following year. Former whaleman Captain Paul Pinkham was the first keeper at a salary of $166.66 per year. A few years later, Pinkham published the era’s best chart of Nantucket Island and its surrounding shoals.
When the present tower was built in 1986, some of the stone from the earlier tower—destroyed in a 1984 storm—was incorporated into its construction.
The first tower was destroyed by fire in 1816. A new 60-foot stone tower was finished in 1818. The lantern was fitted with a third-order Fresnel lens in 1857. That same year, the tower was lined with brick, and an assistant keeper’s house was built.
Archford Haskins became keeper at Great Point in 1937. His daughter Jeanette Lee Haskins (now Jeanette Killen) later wrote about her years at Great Point. “I used to love to walk in the brisk wind along the beach and feel the sting of the sand,” she wrote. As a girl, Jeanette sometimes helped her father light the lighthouse’s lamp, an act she said made her feel like she was “helping God” guide mariners to safe harbor.
The light was automated in the 1950s. In 1966, a suspicious fire razed the keeper’s house. Erosion gradually brought the seas perilously close to the lighthouse. Then, in March 1984, a storm destroyed the 1818 tower. The storm had broken through the barrier beach, temporarily turning the point into an island.
Federal funds were appropriated for the building of a tower. A replica, 300 yards west of the site of the old tower, was finished in 1986 at a cost of over a million dollars. Senator Edward M. Kennedy smashed a bottle of champagne against the tower at the dedication and announced, “Great Point is alive and well again.”
Great Point is now part of Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, managed by the Trustees of Reservations. The Trustees offer several tours that include a visit to the lighthouse, including a daily natural history tour, sunset tours, and birding tours. The “Two Out of Three Lighthouses on Nantucket” tour includes climbs to the tops of both Great Point and Sankaty Head lights. Reservations are required; call 508-228-6799. For more information, visit www.thetrustees.org online.
For information about getting to Nantucket, see the section on Brant Point Light. Cap’n Tobey’s Native Water Taxi can also take you to Great Point; call 508-221-1059 or visit www.tobeyleskeinc.com for more information.
SIDE TRIP: Nantucket Lifesaving Museum
This museum at Folger’s Marsh at 158 Polpis Road tells the story of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. Of special interest is the old third-order Fresnel lens from Great Point Lighthouse, which is on display in a replica lantern on the grounds. The museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., June 15 through Columbus Day weekend in October.
Nantucket Lifesaving Museum
158 Polpis Road
Nantucket, MA 02554
Phone: 508-228-1885
Web site: www.nantucketlifesavingmuseum.com
