Accessibility: 
Geographic coordinates:
North Light: 42° 38' 24" N 70° 34' 30" W
South Light: 42° 38' 12" N 70° 34' 30" W
Nearest town: Rockport.
Established: 1771. Present lighthouses built: 1861. North light deactivated 1932, relighted as a private aid in 1989. South light automated in 1980.
Height of both towers: 124 feet. Height of focal plane: 166 feet
Optics: First-order Fresnel lenses. Present optics: VRB-25 (south light), 200 mm (north light).
Characteristic: Flashing red every 5 seconds (south light); fixed yellow (north light)
Fog signal: Two blasts every 60 seconds.
Fifty-acre Thacher Island—less than a mile off the east coast of Cape Ann—was named for Anthony Thacher, an Englishman whose vessel, the Watch and Wait, was wrecked in a ferocious storm near the island in 1635 on its way to Marblehead from Ipswich. Thacher and his wife, Elizabeth, were the only survivors of the wreck in which twenty-one people died.
Two 45-foot stone lighthouse towers on Thacher Island, about 300 yards apart, were lighted for the first time on December 21, 1771. The twin lights were soon nicknamed “Ann’s Eyes.” Local patriots branded the first keeper, James Kirkwood, a Tory. In 1775, Minutemen arrived and removed Kirkwood, who managed to escape to Canada.
It was eventually decided that taller towers were needed. Twin towers, 124 feet high, were built in 1861. New Hampshire granite was used instead of local Cape Ann granite, which drew much criticism from locals. The lighthouses were fitted with enormous first-order Fresnel lenses, first illuminated on October 1, 1861.
Alexander Bray, a Civil War veteran, became principal keeper in 1864. On December 21, 1864, one of the assistant keepers fell ill with a fever. Keeper Bray left for the mainland to take the ailing man to a doctor. The keeper’s wife, Maria, was left in charge of the station. A heavy snowstorm blew in later that day, making it impossible for Alexander Bray to return to the island. Maria Bray braved the high winds and heavy snow to light the lamps in both towers. Each tower had 148 steps to the top, and Maria had to repeat the trip three times that night to keep the lamps supplied with oil and the lantern room panes free of soot. A second night passed before Alexander Bray could return to the island, and not once did Maria allow either light to go out. It was a happy Christmas when the Brays were reunited.
The north light was extinguished in 1932. The south light and the fog signal were automated in 1980, and the Coast Guard moved off the island. The first-order Fresnel lens was removed from the south tower; it’s now on display at the Coast Guard Academy Museum in New London, Connecticut.
Concerned citizens of Cape Ann formed the Thacher Island Association in the 1980s. In 1989, the north light was restored and opened to visitors. It has since been relighted as a private aid to navigation. The town of Rockport’s Thacher Island Committee, in partnership with the Thacher Island Association, now maintains and operates the island, under agreements with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The twin lights can be seen from a few locations on shore in Rockport, including Marmion Way, Eden Road, Penzance Road and Emerson Point, and distantly from Long Beach on the Rockport/Gloucester line (on Route 127A). The Thacher Island Association (www.thacherisland.org) holds occasional lighthouse cruises that sometimes provide views. Harbor Tours, Inc. (978-283-1979), offers a lighthouse cruise that passes all five of the cape’s lighthouses. Some of the lighthouse cruises offered by the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands (781-740-4290, www.fbhi.org) and Boston Harbor Cruises (617-227-4321, www.bostonharborcruises.com) also include Thacher Island.
Members of the Thacher Island Association (www.thacherisland.org) can visit the island on Saturday and Wednesday mornings from July through the end of August (weather permitting) d. You must make reservations in advance by calling 617-599-2590. The Thacher Island launch only accommodates 12 passengers, and there are only three trips each Saturday morning and one on Wednesday morning.
You can also visit using your own small rowboat or kayak; larger boats cannot land on the ramp.Only small rowboats and kayaks are allowed to land on the ramp. Two guest moorings are available about 50 yards offshore. If you’d like to use one of these moorings, you must call the caretaker in advance at 617-599-2590. Bring a dinghy to land on the ramp. For more information about visiting the island, visit the Thacher Island’s web site at www.thacherisland.org. A small campground (July to mid-September, small nightly fee) is available on the island. You must reserve by calling 617-599-2590.
Fascinating Fact 
The original twin lighthouse,s built here in 1771 were the first in America to mark a dangerous spot (the Londoner Ledge to the southeast) rather than a harbor entrance. They were also the last lighthouses built under British rule in the colonies.
