The Brenton Reef Light was a

Texas tower The Texas Towers were a set of three radar facilities off the eastern seaboard of the United States which were used for surveillance by the United States Air Force during the Cold War. Modeled on the offshore oil drilling platforms first employe ...

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

at the entrance to

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

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, south of Beavertail Point. Erected to replace a lightship in 1962, it was decommissioned in 1989 due to its deteriorating condition.

History

This offshore station was marked by a succession of lightships beginning in 1853, with new vessels being assigned to the station in 1856, 1897, and 1935. In the early 1960s the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

initiated a program to replace these lightships with large steel towers, commonly known as

s. Brenton Reef was selected for such replacement, but a somewhat smaller facility was constructed instead. This light was originally a manned station, with living quarters and galley, as well as engine room to supply power to the light and living quarters. It was connected to the

Beavertail Light Beavertail Lighthouse was built in 1856 and is the premier lighthouse in Rhode Island, marking the entrance to Narragansett Bay. The lighthouse lies on the southernmost point of Conanicut Island in the town of Jamestown, Rhode Island in Beavertai ...

by submarine cables and maintained by Coast Guardsmen out of the Newport, Rhode Island station, and was converted to fully automatic operation during its active lifetime. At its activation in 1962, it became the second such light tower on the east coast. These towers deteriorated relatively quickly, and in 1983 the Coast Guard first suggested decommissioning it. It was retained, however, due to the proximity of the

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races. In 1989 the Coast Guard announced that the light was to be removed, and in 1992 it was dismantled. The following year the pieces were sunk off

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

as part of an artificial reef. A lighted buoy replaced the tower at a position somewhat further south, where it remains at present.

Keepers

Lightship LV-14 (1853–1856)

Lightship LV-11 (1856–1897)

Lightship LV-39 (1897–1935)

Lightship LV-102/WAL 525 (1945–1962)

Lighthouse (1962–1989)

References

* * * * {{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1962 Lighthouses in Washington County, Rhode Island 1962 establishments in Rhode Island Buildings and structures demolished in 1992 1992 disestablishments in the United States