Graves Light

[HOME] [SCREENSAVERS] [DOWNLOAD] [PURCHASE & REGISTRATION] [LIGHTHOUSE FACTS] [WALLPAPER] [USER'S GUIDE]

GRAVES LIGHT

(Boston Harbor, Massachusetts)

The Graves lighthouse is located on the outskirts of the Boston Harbor on a ledge known as the Graves - named in the 1600s after Thomas Graves, Vice-Admiral of Governor Winthop's Navy. One of the few New England lighthouses built since 1900, the Graves light was completed and commissioned in 1905.

The tower is made of granite and stands 113 feet high. The entrance to the lighthouse is on top of the 40 foot vertical ladder that extends above the landing platform. The keepers lived in the third, fourth , and fifth stories within the tower. The original oil house still stands and is seen on the rocks to the left of the lighthouses in the photographs.

The light was originally equipped with a first-order Fresnel lens that measured 12 feet high and 9 feet in diameter and for many years was one of the most powerful lights along the New England coast. The lighthouse was automated in 1976 and the Fresnel lens was removed and replaced with a modern light that can be seen for up to 25 miles. The original Fresnel lens is in storage at the Smithsonian Institution.

The picture below was taken by the author from inside the Lantern Room of the Boston Lighthouse on Little Brewster Island to the south.

[Back to Massachusetts Lighthouses]

All pictures are the original work of Rick Totton and are protected under copyright laws.

Do not reproduce any images from this website without permission of the author.