Nobska Light, originally called Nobsque Light, also known as Nobska Point Light is a

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 ...

located near the division between

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...

Nantucket Sound Nantucket Sound_(geography), Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on ...

, and

Vineyard Sound Vineyard Sound is the stretch of the Atlantic Ocean which separates the Elizabeth Islands and the southwestern part of Cape Cod from the island of Martha's Vineyard, located offshore from the state of Massachusetts in the United States. To the w ...

in the settlement of

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

on the southwestern tip of

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. It overlooks

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

and

Nonamesset Island Nonamesset Island is the most easterly of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The island has a land area of 1.398 km² (0.54 sq mi or 345.5 acres) and was uninhabited as of the United States Census, 2000, 2000 ...

. The light station was established in 1826, with the tower protruding above the keeper's house, and was replaced in 1876 by the current 42 foot tall iron tower. The light station was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as Nobska Point Light Station in 1987.

Description and history

Nobska Light is set at the very southwestern tip of Cape Cod, separated from the shore by Nobska Road. The light station includes four buildings: the tower, the keeper's house, a radio beacon house, and a small oil house. The tower has a brick interior and a metal exterior, formed out of four rings of iron paneling, and rises to a height of . The first three panels each have a single sash window with an Italianate surround, while the fourth level sports four porthole windows. The tower is topped by a ten-sided lantern house with an iron balcony and railing encircling it. A wood frame entry vestibule with gable roof projects toward the keeper's house. The oil house is a small brick structure with a gable roof, while the radio beacon house is a larger brick structure, also with a gable roof. The light station was established in 1828, with the original light mounted on top of the keeper's house. In 1876 the present tower was built, along with one portion of the keeper's house and the oil house. The keeper's house was built in two stages, and was built to house both a keeper and an assistant. It is a -story Cape style wood-frame house, whose older section was built in 1876; the other half was built in 1905. A central single-story cross-gable wing extends toward the tower, with enclosed porches on either side. In 1937, a 125-foot steel radiobeacon tower was installed and the reed horn fog signal replaced with a diaphragm over the next decade. In 1939 the United States Coast Guard replaced the U.S. Lighthouse Service as the agency responsible for maintaining the light but a civilian light keeper remained on site until November 1973 and was replaced by the Coast Guard. Before Joseph Hindley retired, he may have been the last civilian light keeper in New England. In 1985 the lighthouse was automated and the last keeper retired. His house was converted into the residence for the Commanding Officer of

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 ...

Sector Southeastern New England. It was listed on the

in 1987. In 2012, the house was deemed in need of serious maintenance and was discontinued as a residence.

Light keepers

Over the years, the following were the principal light keepers; some had previously been assistant keepers. *Peter Daggett (1828-1849) *William Davis (1849-1853) *William Ferguson Jr. (1853-1861) *Frederick Ray (1861-1874) *Oliver A. Nickerson (1874-1911) *George I. Cameron (1911-1913) *George L.Lyon (1913-1929) *John M. Scharff (1929-1955) *Osborne E. Hallett (1955–1968) *Joseph G. Hindley (1968–1972) *Gary Williams (1972-1983) *Charles Tebo (1983–1985)

Current status

In 2015, the Coast Guard decided to offer the light station to municipalities, non-profits or, lacking either of these, for private sale. Four organizations in Falmouth concerned with historic preservation banded together under the aegis of the Town of Falmouth to form a new non-profit to bid for the license for the lighthouse and its 2.3 acres site. The Town of Falmouth's application was accepted by the Coast Guard in September 2015 and the parties entered into a licensing process that is anticipated to be completed early in 2016. The Town's plan is to hand over renovation and maintenance to the non-profit created for this purpose, the Friends of Nobska Light, which, when the restoration is complete, will operate the lighthouse as a museum open to the public for free. Nobska will then join the 100+ lighthouses in the country that have passed from federal to local and private management since global positioning systems and other improvement to navigation reduced the need for manned lighthouses. The Friends of Nobska Light hope to offer tours of the light keeper's house by 2020. The tower may be open for tours in the summer of 2017. In the meantime, the site can be visited but not toured; a small parking lot is available. By late March 2017, the Friends of Nobska Light had raised roughly $66,000 but were planning to ask the Town to provide the approximately $265,000 still required to proceed with the restoration.

Gallery

Nobska Light, Woods Hole, Cape Cod, Mass (66931).jpg, Circa 1930-1945 Cape cod11.jpg, 2005 NobskaLight2.jpg, History of Nobska Point Nobska Light - Woods Hole MA.jpg, 2009 Spiral Stairway, Nobska Point Lighthouse, Woods Hole, MA..jpg, Brick lined interior & spiral

stairway Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

Nobska Point Light - Woods Hole MA.jpg, Nobska Point Light, 2009 Fourth Order Fresnel Lens, Nobska.jpg, Fourth-Order

Fresnel Lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

at Nobska View through enclosure at Nobska Point Lighthouse.jpg,

viewed through glass enclosure at Nobska Light SignPost NobskaLighthouse.jpg,

Signage Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. A signage also means signs ''collectively'' or being considered as a group. The term ''signage'' is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980. Signs are any ...

at Nobska Looking at Vineyard Sound through the porthole..jpg, Looking at

through the

porthole A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicle ...

! Around Nobska Point.jpg, Local beach near Nobska Point,

Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

References

External links