Accessibility: 
Geographic coordinates: 42° 00' 13" N 70° 36' 02" W
Nearest town: Plymouth. Located at Gurnet Point in Plymouth Bay.
Established: 1768. Present lighthouse built: 1843. Automated: 1986.
Height of tower: 34 feet. Height of focal plane: 104 feet.
Previous optic: Fourth-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: 190 mm.
Characteristic: Three white flashes every 30 seconds with a red sector.
Fog signal: One blast every 15 seconds.
The peninsula known as the Gurnet is a seven-mile-long sand spit at the northern border of Plymouth Bay. With burgeoning trade in Plymouth and shipbuilding in neighboring Duxbury and Kingston, the Gurnet was an ideal place for a lighthouse to help guide the local traffic.
The first lighthouse, established in 1768, was a wooden dwelling with two lanterns on its roof, one at each end—America’s first “twin” lights. It was felt that mariners wouldn’t confuse the double lights with the single light at Boston. The first keeper was John Thomas, a doctor from Marshfield, Massachusetts. He became a major general and led troops at Quebec during the American Revolution. When Thomas contracted smallpox and died in 1776, his wife, Hannah, became the new keeper.
The original building was destroyed by fire in 1801. A pair of 22-foot towers was built, 30 feet from each other. Joseph Burgess was keeper for 39 years beginning in 1812. His sixteen-year-old daughter, Eunice, jumped from the bluff to her death when her father wouldn’t consent to her marriage to a soldier from the neighboring fort.
New octagonal wooden towers were built in 1843, along with a large dwelling. A fog bell with striking machinery was added in 1907. In 1924, as part of the effort to phase out twin light stations as an unnecessary expense, the northeast tower was discontinued and torn down.
Fascinating Fact 
This is the oldest free-standing wooden lighthouse in the U.S., and the station had the nation’s first woman keeper (Hannah Thomas).
The old keeper’s house was destroyed, and a four-bedroom ranch house was built for the Coast Guard crew in 1962. During the Coast Guard era, the crew was an important link to the mainland for Gurnet residents. The station had the Gurnet’s only telephone and the only full-time electric power.
The light was automated and destaffed in 1986. By the 1990s, the lighthouse stood only 45 feet from the edge of the bluff, which was losing at least a foot each year to erosion. The thirteen-ton tower was moved 140 feet to a new location in December 1998.
Project Gurnet and Bug Lights, the same group that cares for Duxbury Pier (“Bug”) Light, now manages the property. Volunteers have painted the tower, and a window has been replaced. The former keepers’ house can be rented by the week or by the month. Rents vary depending upon the month and season. For more information, see www.buglight.org.
The Gurnet is accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicle from Duxbury Beach, but the road to the lighthouse is not open to the general public. There are occasional open houses, including one each year during Duxbury’s Opening of the Bay festival in late May. For more information, contact Project Gurnet and Bug Lights, P.O. Box 2167, Duxbury, MA 02331. Web site: www.buglight.org. The group has also sponsored an annual lighthouse cruise in June.
The sightseeing cruises from Plymouth offered by Captain John Boats (508-747-3434, www.plymouthharborcruises.com) offer a view, but it may be distant. The Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands (781-740-4290, www.fbhi.org) have offered occasional cruises from Boston to Plymouth, including a view of the lighthouse.
