11/21/2023
[Lighthouse of the Week🔦] Introducing the Conimicut Lighthouse of Rhode Island!
Point Shoal was established in 1868, when a lantern room and a fourth-order Fresnel lens were placed atop a granite tower that had been built on the shoal in 1866 as a daymark to guide navigators transiting between Narragansett Bay and the Providence River. The tower’s light allowed the nearby Nayatt Point Lighthouse, which had been established in 1828, to be discontinued.
Even before the granite tower on Conimicut Point Shoal was complete, captains and owners of vessels sent a petition to the Lighthouse Board asking that a light be exhibited therefrom. On March 2, 1867, Congress provided $15,000 “to make such alterations in the day beacon at Conimicut Point, Providence River, as to fit it for the exhibition of a light.” These alterations included increasing the height of the granite tower and arranging the necessary watch and store rooms. On November 1, 1868, the Fresnel lens was removed from Nayatt Point Lighthouse and placed in Conimicut Point Lighthouse, which was activated for the first time that evening. Besides a fixed white light, the lighthouse also had a fog bell that was struck at regular intervals during periods of limited visibility.
While the addition of a lighthouse closer to the channel was a blessing for ships navigating the Providence River, it was a nuisance for keepers assigned to the station, as living quarters had not been included in the plans. Keeper Davis Perry and his assistant were forced to row back and forth to the quarters at Nayatt Point Lighthouse. The mile-long trip had to be made in a small rowboat, often while fighting dangerous currents and avoiding ship traffic.
On March 3, 1873, Congress appropriated $15,000 for a dwelling at Conimicut Lighthouse, “Provided, that upon completion of said dwelling the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to sell, at public auction, after due notice, and either in one parcel or divided into lots, the land constituting the site of the old light-station at Nayat Point.” A keeper’s dwelling was accordingly added at Conimicut Shoal on a pier just north of the tower, and the old dwelling at Nayatt was placed under the care of a custodian. In March 1875, Keeper Horace Arnold and his son barely escaped the dwelling as “a heavy field of floating ice” crashed into pier the supported it.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for next week's lighthouse feature!