Wood End Light Explained

Location:Provincetown, Massachusetts
Coordinates:42.0212°N -70.1935°W
Yearbuilt:1864 (lookout station)
1872 (lighthouse built)
Yearlit:1872
Automated:1961
Foundation:Concrete
Construction:Brick
Shape:Square, pyramidal
Marking:White with black lantern
(originally painted brown)
Focalheight: above mean sea level
Lens:Fifth-order Fresnel lens (original), VRB-25 (current)
Characteristic:Fl Red 10s (Red flash every 10 seconds)
Fogsignal:Horn:one 3-second blast every 30 seconds
Previous (1902): 1000abbr=onNaNabbr=on fog bell
Module:
Embed:yes
Wood End Light Lookout Station
Added:June 15, 1987
Refnum:87001504

Wood End Light Lookout Station is a historic lighthouse, located at the southwest end of Long Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts.[1] It is located at Wood End, near the southernmost extent of the Provincetown Spit, and acts as a navigational aid to vessels on their approach to Provincetown Harbor. The Long Point Light Station, further down the peninsula at the tip of Long Point is an identical design and completed in 1875, three years after Wood End Light.

The light was first illuminated on November 20, 1872, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. In 1981, Wood End Light became the first Massachusetts lighthouse to be converted to use solar energy to power the light and fog signal equipment.[2] [3]

In 1896 a wooden keeper's house was built, as well as a storage shed and oil house. With the changing times and no need to man the light station, it was decided in 1961 to raze the buildings leaving just the tower and oil house.

Notes and References

  1. 2010-03-10.
  2. Web site: Wood End Light Lookout Station. Maritime History of Massachusetts, a National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. National Park Service. 6 November 2014.
  3. Web site: [{{NRHP url|id=64000282}} Lighthouses of Massachusetts - Thematic Group Nomination (National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form)]. National Park Service. 6 November 2014. Item 7, Page 5. PDF. 4 May 1987.