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Take a tour of the Lighthouses in New England

• Old Saybrook Outer Light

• Old Saybrook Inner Light

• New London Ledge Light

• Portland Head Light

Old Saybrook, Outer Light

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Old Saybrook Harbor

• The harbor of Old Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River, was limited in its development by the presence of a large sand bar at the harbor entrance. Buoys were placed to mark the bar, but the shifting sand made navigation difficult. In the 1870s, two parallel stone jetties were built and a deep channel was dredged between them. $20,000 was appropriated by Congress in 1882 for the construction of a lighthouse on the west jetty.

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Outer Light Information

• Saybrook Breakwater Light, also known as the Outer Light, was first lighted on June 15, 1886. It's about 3,000 feet from Lynde Point Light.

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Inner Light, Old Saybrook

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Inner Light (Lynde Point)

• To mark the entrance to the Connecticut River and the harbor of Old Saybrook, officials decided to erect a lighthouse in 1802. Land was purchased from William Lynde for $225, and the 35-foot wooden tower was built by New London carpenter Abisha Woodward in 1803.

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Old Saybrook

• Old Saybrook (a separate town from Saybrook, which is now called Deep River) was a prosperous town full of sea captains' homes, and was for many years the only major stop on the railroad between New London and New Haven. The town remains a yachting capital and a quaint, exclusive community.

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The lighthouse was featured in this magazine ad in the 1950s

The first lighthouse was criticized by mariners for being too dim and too short. A group petitioned for the tower to be raised by 25 feet, but it was decided to rebuild the lighthouse instead. A new 65-foot brownstone tower was erected in 1838.

The two Old Saybrook lights as they appear today from the mouth of the Connecticut River

On to New London

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New London Ledge Light

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New London Legde Light• This one-of-a-kind building was one

of the last lighthouses built in New England, and it represents a rare case of an early 20th century offshore lighthouse that is not of cast-iron construction. The stately red brick building with its mansard roof and granite detailing makes a striking picture standing off by itself near the entrance to Connecticut's New London Harbor, at the extreme eastern end of Long Island Sound.

A ghost story!!!Back to Table of Contents

Probably the best-known part of this station's history and lore is the lighthouse's infamous ghost, "Ernie." It's been claimed that in the 1920s or '30s, a keeper learned that his wife had run off with the captain of the Block Island ferry. Distraught, the keeper jumped -- or fell -- from the roof of the lighthouse to his death, the story goes. Some versions of this story say that Ernie's real name may have been John Randolf or Randolph. If there's any truth behind the legend, it's elusive.

Is it haunted???

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Portland Head Light

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History of the light

• Portland, which was known as Falmouth until 1786, was America's sixth busiest port by the 1790s. Even so, Maine had no lighthouses when 74 merchants petitioned the Massachusetts government (Maine was part of Massachusetts at the time) in 1784 for a light to mark the entrance to Portland Harbor. The deaths of two people in a 1787 shipwreck at Bangs (now Cushing) Island near Portland Head finally led to the appropriation of $750 for a lighthouse.

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More history

• The stone lighthouse was built by local masons Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols. The original plan was for a 58-foot tower, but when it was realized that the light would be blocked from the south it was decided to make the tower 72 feet in height instead. Bryant resigned over the change, and Nichols finished the lighthouse in January 1791.

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A rough night

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Details on the rough night

• On Christmas Eve, 1886, the British bark Annie C. Maguire ran ashore on the rocks at Portland Head. The Strouts got a line to the vessel and helped all aboard, including the captain's wife, make it safely to shore.

• On New Year's Day 1887, a storm destroyed the ship after everything of value had been removed. You can still see the rock near the lighthouse with the painted inscription: "Annie C. Maguire, shipwrecked here, Christmas Eve 1886."

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