Cape Cod Light

Highland Light, aka Cape Cod Light, in Truro.

She went up in 1797. George Washington himself placed the order. She is Cape Cod's oldest lighthouse, although she was torn down and switched from wood to brick in 1857. She was moved 450 feet inland in 1996, as she was threatened with cliff erosion.

George Washington also ordered the North Truro Air Force Station. Oh, wait, he did not. It's decommissioned anyhow.

Cape Neddick Lighthouse, off York, Maine

The Cape Neddick Lighthouse went up in 1879 for $15,000. 

She is actually on Nubble Island, not Cape Neddick. The locals call it "Nubble" or "Nubble Light." She is just off of York, Maine. 

This lighthouse is so cool, they put a picture of it in the Voyager spacecraft. The Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China share this distinction. It is supposed to impress any aliens who might find it.

If you look closely, you can see a little gondola/tram thing. That runs 100 yards or so to the mainland, and was used to get the lighthouse keeper's son to and from school. 

Props to Sheila Spellman for the pics.

Old Scituate Light

We checked out Old Scituate Lighthouse recently. We love lighthouses, and we'll get to every one in the area soon enough... 

Old Scituate Lighthouse dates back to 1811, for the low-low cost of $4000. That's a lot of $5 bills to be throwing around, especially when the guy on the $5 bill was still Thomas Jeffersoning. (Editor's note: Tommy is on the $10 bill, Stephen)

We happened to see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar there, and he was nice enough to pose in the foreground, provide some scale and make the lighthouse look bigger.

Steve, listen... if the article is called "Old Scituate Lighthouse," do try to not chop off part of the actual lighthouse (Editor's note: Steve claimed that the lighthouse moved at the last second when he shot it). It ain't that hard.

They need an Army Of One to hustle down and clean up the Army Of Two sign. The Army Of Two is probably the South Shore's best military story.

We'll do an article on it later, but the short version is that the lighthouse keeper's two daughters scared off a British raiding party in the War Of 1812. The British were coming to burn Scituate to the ground.

The girls thwarted that sh*t by hiding behind the dunes and playing a fife and drum. The British, thinking it was militia, turned tail and beat a red-coated retreat back to La Hogue.

The lighthouse is 25 feet tall and stands 71 feet above Sea Level.

She was deactivated in 1850, as Minot's Ledge Lighthouse made it redundant. Other than a brief reactivation when MLL was destroyed in a 1852 gale, it was inactive until 1994. It fell into disrepair, and only looks as good as it does now because of citizen effort. Her light still shines, as a private aid to navigation.

If you can't wait for our Army Of Two article to drop and want to research it yourself, the two sisters are known as either The Army Of Two, The American Army Of Two or The Lighthouse Army Of Two.

If The Bates Sisters aren't enough history for you, the lighthouse is also near where the USS Chesapeake and the HMS Shannon traded hands. The U lost that one, but the dying words of Captain James Lawrence- "Don't give up the ship"- became the battle cry of the US Navy.

But wait! There's more! This is also where the Etrusco ran aground in a 1956 nor'easter. The crew were rescued, and kept in various houses around town until they could get home. The ship was stuck there for several months, before being refloated, repaired and returned to service.

It tolls for thee...

Borden Flats Lighthouse

One of my favorite lighthouses around is in Fall River. This is odd, because I tend to romanticize lighthouses as isolated things on the end of a lonely beach. In that regard, it's odd to see one while I'm eating Popeye's chicken in the car.

Borden Flats Lighthouse sits at the mouth of the Taunton River, where it empties out into Mount Hope Bay. If I were a better photographer, you'd see how cool it looks there, but that's why you can read this for free.

Borden Flats Lighthouse was erected in 1881. It, and the flats it sits on, are named for the famous Borden family of Fall River. The Bordens may have had a daughter turn up in the news at some point for some reason or another, I'm not sure....

I think the Borden family may have been into hotels, because the Lizzie Borden house is now a B&B. The Borden Flats Lighthouse, which looks pretty much like a lighthouse to me, is actually a hotel!

The actual good pictures are lifted from the Borden Flats Lighthouse website.

Fall River, a bustling textile town in the 1800s, got a lot of shipping traffic, as well as steamboat ferry action. Mount Hope Bay is rather shallow, and Borden Flats were ship-wrecking treacherous. It was formerly marked by an unlit beacon. $25K was set aside for construction of the lighthouse.

It went into action on October 1, 1881. It had a kerosene-fed fourth order Fresnel lens, and you know that I have no idea what that means. It got a modern plastic lens in 1977.

It was electrified in 1957, automated in 1963, and the fog bell was replaced by an electronic foghorn in 1983... a mistake in my view, but I also don't live near/have to listen to it.

The 1938 hurricane didn't topple Borden Flats Lighthouse, but it did give it a Pisa-style tilt that you notice once someone points it out to you. They built an additional caisson around it to keep it from having a ruined-castle style look.

In 2000, the lighthouse was auctioned off to Cindy and Craig Korstad, who are in the Buy Lighthouses And Turn Them Into Hotels business. I think they dropped $53K on it, then many K more renovating it.

It stands 50 feet tall, it has a 250 mm white light that flashes every 2.5 seconds, The foghorn goes off every 10 seconds, or- as Elwood Blues said when showing his apartment to Joliet Jake- "so often you won't notice it after a while." It is an active US Coast Guard aid to navigation, and is of the "Spark Plug" variety.

It seems to be tastefully decorated, and it looks delicate enough that I will be on the "Don't touch anything!!" prohibition orders from my photographer when we tour it.

That's right... you can tour it for $20 a pop. You can also stay the night, for rates as low as $299 a night off-season.

Here's what I can learn about it from the website without calling the people like a real reporter does:

- Swimming is "strongly discouraged"  as this is both a shipping channel and not too far down the coast from where the last fatal shark attack in Massachusetts happened. The current is around 7 knots, and the lighthouse is surrounded by large, diver-paralyzing rocks.

- It runs off solar panels, so having Chief Brody kill the shark by tricking it into biting the electric wire running to the lighthouse isn't a viable exit strategy.

- Just like when it was built in 1881, the lighthouse has a DVD player and can get local stations on the TV. It lacks WiFi.

- The best access is from Borden Light Marina, the trip takes 5 minutes. I'm not sure if they ferry you over themselves. It would be a heroic swim, especially while carrying luggage.

- BYOB allowed, no smoking inside.

- You call 911 for emergencies, unless you know the Sea Mafia or perhaps even Aquaman. They say that the Justice League only keeps Aquaman around in case trouble arises at the Borden Flats Lighthouse.

- The Coast Guard has 24/7/365 access rights to the lighthouse.

- Sunsets are amazing from the lantern room. I'd imagine that the rest of the day is pretty nice up there, too.

- The lighthouse, like every other one, is haunted. The ghosts seem to be a giggling little girl, a classical music fan, and one of the keepers entering the lower floor while you're on an upper one.

- If you dream of buying a lighthouse, understand that there is Herculean maintenance involved. "You can't buy it and visit it once a year, your investment will wash into the sea." Much of the hotel revenue is poured back into the lighthouse via renovations and maintenance.

- Two guests only, and no pets allowed... even seals.

- There is also a hotel/lighthouse in Bourne.

- The picture below is from US Coast Guard, circa 1900:

Ned's Point Light in Mattapoisett

We paid a visit to Mattapoisett, Massachusetts to check out Ned Point Light.

The South Coast has some cool lighthouses, you just have to move a bit to find them.

I love all lighthouses and I love this one, but Ned is a pretty good example of why lighthouses need a lightkeeper shack near it. Lighthouses are more about Duty than Beauty, which of course increases their beauty immeasurably. A shack wouldn't hurt, though... even if they just keep DPW stuff in it.

A cooler name wouldn't hurt, either. "Mattapoisett Light" would be better. So would "Dexter Point Light," which was the last name of the eponymous Ned in question.

New England fishing villages most likely weren't hacked out of the forest by guys who stopped work and said, "You know what? We should give it a more catchy name, so our greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreat grandchildren can use it to draw in tourists," and that's probably a good thing.

Ned Point Light is also known as Ned's Point Light by the locals. It was built in 1838 for $4500 of those 1838 dollars. John Quincy Adams was instrumental in getting the funds. It is older than Mattapoisett, which was part of Rochester until 1857.

It was made with stones that they found nearby. The contractor (Leonard Hammond), who also owned the town tavern, didn't finish in time. Stalling an inspector at his tavern, he had a crew try to make it look finished. The inspector stepped into the lighthouse and fell through the floor, which was merely planks laid over barrels.

It used to have a lightkeeper's house, but that was floated across Buzzards Bay to Bourne, where it now serves Wings Neck Light.

Ned Point Light was deactivated from 1951-1963. It was restored by locals in the 1990s.

It isn't open for touring, other than once a week in the summer. It's 39 feet high and has 32 granite steps.

She guards the northern edge of Mattapoisett Harbor.

Wings Neck Light

Wings Neck doesn't have an apostrophe, and I checked more than once. It's a peninsula, which is actually a typo away from being a dirty term describing "a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland."

As near as I can tell from the Wikipedia, the big difference between a Peninsula and a Cape is that a Cape manifests itself as a marked change in the trend of the coastline. Essentially, Bourne to Provincetown is a Cape via her right angle hook, while the more Mexico-aligned Baja is a peninsula.

I think that Cape Cod is technically two Capes, with one running from the mainland to Chatham, and the Outer Cape sort of caping off of the Cape.

Keep in mind that I started in journalism as a Sports Betting columnist when I am telling you all this stuff about Geography. I actually confuse Geography with Geology and even Geometry now and then, which is why I am rarely obtuse with people.

Wings Neck is a notable point where Buzzards Bay begins to narrow into the Cape Cod Canal. It is across the Buzz from Stony Point in Wareham. It's not as narrow as the Mashnee Neck/Codman Point bottleneck, but it's pretty narrow. If you've sailed north into the Cape Cod Canal, you passed Wings Neck on your starboard side.

It sort of sticks out from the mainland like a wing, hence the name. I'm guessing, and there could be some guy named Wing who may have a legitimate grievance with me.

The area was of regional importance before the Cape Cod Canal was dug out. The swampy area was rich in Iron, and the Pocasset Iron Company was powerful enough to greatly increase shipping traffic. Shipping into Wareham and Bourne/Sandwich had also increased heavily. Wings Neck merited a lighthouse by 1849. The original light was 50 feet above the water, and it cost a look-at-how-they-spend $3,251.

The first keeper, Edward Doty Lawrence, ran it almost uninterrupted through 1877. He was briefly removed in 1854 for belonging to the wrong political party. His daughter married the Keeper who followed him. John Maxim, who both replaced and preceded EDL as Keeper, was killed at Gettysburg.

Other notable Keepers were George and William Howard. The Howard brothers were noted lifesavers, and they saved 37 lives in their time running Wings Neck. One of the reasons that a U-Boat never attacked Bourne is that the Germans feared retribution from the badass Howard brothers.

It has a very lengthy history of lightkeeper's wives being the assistant keepers, doing the shift while hubby slept. At least one keeper's wife is famous for saying a prayer over her husband's newly-dead corpse, and then going up to run the light and clang the bell before the town doctor had pronounced him dead.

There was an 1878 fire that led to the 1889 construction of a new light, which had all that fancy stuff like a 1000 pound fog bell. They even floated an assistant keeper's house across the Buzz from Mattapoisett in 1923. It went from a fixed to a flashing light in 1928, and converted to electricity in 1934. This light was 44 feet above the water, and was visible for 12 miles at sea.

Wings Neck was once docked at by the US presidential yacht, Mayflower. The keeper, Wallace Eldredge, did a 21 gun salute with the fog bell for President Warren Harding. 

As a private residence, it once played host to the Von Trapp family of The Sound Of Music fame. Since former President Grover Cleveland vacationed in Bourne for many years and was an avid fisherman, he was most likely very familiar with Wings Neck. This is a ridiculous amount of clout for a literal backwater area where maybe 500 families live now.

Maps from vintage times show Wings Neck as a hazard to navigation, and it only got worse when the Canal traffic started floating by.

The lighthouse ran from 1889-1945, when it was deemed unnecessary following the construction of the Cleveland Ledge light. They then put up this Cape Cod Canal monitoring station in the picture above.

The monitoring station is the tallest thing around until you get to the Bourne Bridge. It has radar and CCTV monitoring. If you were doing some Love Boat as you were sailing up the Canal, they probably saw you. They may even have film of the act, which is why I never intend to run for President.

The station is essential to the flow of traffic through the Canal, and helps to prevent such nightmare scenarios as "LNG tanker collides with munitions ship as orphans and puppies watch from within the blast radius." Who needs to see that, right?

The hexagonal (you are either impressed that I know that word, or you know i just made it up) lighthouse still stands, and it is connected to a lovely 3 bedroom cottage by a charming breezeway.

It went up for sale, and is now a private residence. Those private residents (the Flanagan family bought it for $13K and change in 1947) use the place as a rental. You can stay there for the following rates.

Winter: January 1 – May 4  $2,500 per week

Spring: May 4 – June 15  $3,750 per week

Summer: June 16 – September 6  $5900 per week

Fall: September 6 – December 31 $3,750 per week

Now, that's some good scratch, but it's worth it to live in a lighthouse for a week. You always say that you want to live in a lighthouse, and that's what it costs. It's a bargain, trust me. Go stay at that other lighthouse hotel if you don't believe me.

There are few better places to watch a good storm from. If you loved ship-watching as a kid, you owe this place to yourself. It's also a top-notch Buddha Spot. If some people I know lived there, it would have so much smoke coming out of the top, Catholics would think there was a new Pope.

I don't know if they still have the bell, or if they let you ring it if they do. I was basically trespassing for these shots.

Bug Light

We caught a boat ride that took us close enough for a few shots of Duxbury Pier Light, aka Bug Light. Bug Light sounds like one of those zapper things that you hang in the yard to kill moths, but in actuality it is a 47 foot high lighthouse in Plymouth Bay, built to warn sailors about the treacherous shoals around Saquish Neck.

She first went up in 1871, and was automated in 1964.  She has 100 tons of rock around her. She was the first Sparkplug light in the US of A.  She survived vicious hurricane and nor'easter surf, but automation nearly did in the sparkplug style, as the Man wanted to replace her with a more generic type. Locals ganged up, formed Project Bug Light, collected money and restored the lighthouse. She now has solar power and a new foghorn. She was added to the National Register Of Historic Places in 2014.

She is tough to get to, but every harbor cruise out of Plymouth goes by it. It is a must-have for any South Shore lighthouse tripper, especially where she is near the also-hard-to-get-to Gurnet Light. Her wooden interior, including the former keeper's quarters are gone, but the locals love her.

Edwin Heap echoed the sentiments of the doctors who once saved me when he said, "It's an ugly old thing, but we're glad that we saved it."

Photos by Teresa Neves and Stephen Bowden