Accessibility: 
Geographic coordinates: 42° 39' 42" N 70° 35' 18" W
Nearest town: Rockport. Located a short distance off the northeast coast of Cape Ann.
Established: 1835. Present lighthouse built: 1896. Automated: 1967.
Height of tower: 37. Height of focal plane: 46 feet.
Earlier optic: Sixth-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: 250 mm.
Characteristic: Green flash every 6 seconds.
Fog signal: One blast every 15 seconds.
The town of Rockport grew up around an indentation in the northeastern part of Cape Ann known as Sandy Bay. It was determined that Straitsmouth Island, at the bay’s southeastern end, would be an ideal place for a lighthouse to guide vessels toward the busy harbor at Pigeon Cove. Congress appropriated $5,000 for the lighthouse in 1834. A 19-foot lighthouse tower and a keeper’s dwelling, both made of brick, were built on Straitsmouth Island in 1835. The first keeper was Benjamin Andrews.
A 24-foot octagonal stone tower at the northeast point of the island replaced the original lighthouse in 1851. A new wood-frame keeper’s house was built in 1878, and the present 37-foot brick lighthouse replaced the 1850 tower in 1896.
The light was converted to automatic operation by the 1930s. The island, except for the lighthouse tower, was sold into private hands in 1941. The island was donated to the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1967.
The abandoned house rapidly deteriorated. In the early 1980s, a local man did some renovation of the dwelling only to have his work immediately ruined by vandals. The house has continued to deteriorate, and there appears to be no hope that it will be saved. The “Perfect Storm” of October 1991 destroyed the old entryway to the tower, and the Coast Guard built a smaller entryway during the following year.
In July 2009, it was announced that ownership of the lighthouse tower would be conveyed to the Thacher Island Association, in accordance with the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The island is not accessible to the public. The lighthouse can be seen distantly from a breakwater at the end of Rockport’s Bearskin Neck, a popular section with quaint studios, shops, and restaurants. The Thacher Island Association (www.thacherisland.org) holds occasional lighthouse cruises that might provide views. Harbor Tours, Inc. (978-283-1979, www.capeannharbortours.com), offers a lighthouse cruise that passes all five of Cape Ann’s lighthouses.
Fascinating Fact 
William Francis Gibbs, a naval architect who directed the production of cargo-carrying Liberty ships during World War II, was owner of Straitsmouth Island for a time.
