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Geographic coordinates: 41° 36' 35" N 70° 15' 58" W
Nearest town: West Yarmouth. Located at the southern tip of Great Island, south side of Cape Cod, Nantucket Sound.
Established: 1816. Present lighthouse built: 1816. Deactivated: 1858.
Height of focal plane: 70 feet.
Present optic: none.
Point Gammon is east of the entrance to Lewis Bay and Hyannis Harbor and a little over two miles north of the dangerous ledges known as Bishops and Clerks. As Hyannis grew in importance, a navigational aid was needed to help mariners negotiate the area. The 20-foot-tall (not including the lantern) conical stone lighthouse went into service on November 21, 1816, with seven lamps and reflectors exhibiting a fixed white light.
The first keeper, Samuel Adams Peak, died in 1824. His young son, John, took over and remained keeper until 1858, when the light was discontinued. John Peak and his wife raised nine children at the lighthouse, two of whom became lighthouse keepers. John Peak complained in 1843 that the house was “extremely leaky . . . so that we always have to move our beds during an easterly rain, and also to mop up bucketfuls of water.”
The lighthouse was eventually deemed inadequate, and a lightship was stationed close to the Bishops and Clerks ledges. In 1858, the lightship was replaced by a lighthouse on the ledges, and John Peak became the first keeper. The 65-foot-tall granite Bishop and Clerks Lighthouse was demolished in 1952.
In 1882, Great Island was sold to Charles B. Cory, a wealthy ornithologist from Boston, and the island became one of the nation’s earliest bird sanctuaries. Cory added a taller structure in place of the original lantern, designed to facilitate the use of the tower as a viewing platform. The station’s stone dwelling was dismantled in the 1930s and rebuilt as a private home elsewhere on the island.
Fascinating Fact 
The point’s name comes from an old term used in the game of backgammon. Mariners trying to pass between the point and the offshore ledges were sometimes deceived, or “gammoned,” which often resulted in disaster.
Malcolm G. Chace, a banker from Rhode Island, purchased the property in 1914. Most of Great Island remains in the ownership of the Chace family. The island is closed to the public. The lighthouse can be viewed distantly from the Hyannis-Nantucket ferry. Marcus Sherman offers sails from Hyannis on the 34-foot catboat Eventide, with a distant view of the lighthouse. If you let him know of your interest, Captain Sherman might be able to sail closer. Call 508-775-0222 or visit www.catboat.com online.