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The name "Annisquam"
appears to be a combination of the word "squam" --
the local Indians' word for harbor -- and "Ann," for
Cape Ann. The Annisquam River, technically an estuary that's
open to the ocean at both ends, separates most of Cape Ann --
and most of the city of Gloucester -- from the mainland.
The northern end of the river opens into Ipswich Bay, and
the southern end connects to Gloucester Harbor via the Blynman
Canal.
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- Annisquam Light Station in the early
1900s.
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The cozy Annisquam village grew up on the east side of the
river's northern end beginning in 1631. The village grew into
a fishing and shipbuilding center that rivaled Gloucester Harbor
in its early days. Also, the Annisquam River was considered an
important harbor of refuge for vessels traveling along the coast.
Congress appropriated $2,000 in April 1800 for a lighthouse
at Wigwam Point, the northwesterly point of Annisquam village.
The name Wigwam Point stems from the long use of the point as
a summer gathering place for local Indians.
- Annisquam Light in a 19th century
engraving from Harper's Weekly
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The first lighthouse was a 32-foot wooden tower, showing a
fixed white light 40 feet above the water. A two-room, wood-frame
keeper's house was built near the tower.
George Day, a Gloucester native who was born in 1769, became
the first keeper at a yearly salary of $200.
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Keeper Day was still in charge when the civil engineer I.
W. P. Lewis examined the station in 1842. By this time, the tower
was in such bad shape that it was propped up with several wooden
spars. The keeper, whose pay had advanced to $350 yearly, provided
the following statement for Lewis's 1843 report to Congress:
The frame of the tower is rotted in all parts, and has
been shored up with spars for about twenty years. In heavy gales
the tower is so shaken as to be very unsafe, and I hardly know
what has kept it standing. Two years ago the walk or bridge leading
from the house to the tower was swept away by a heavy sea only
a few minutes after I crossed it. In winter the ice collects
on the stairs so as to render passage up and down very dangerous.
I expect every storm that comes the tower will be destroyed.
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Day's statement went on to describe the deplorable condition
of the dwelling. About 10 years earlier, rats had undermined
the chimney.
Lewis called the lighthouse "a local harbor beacon of
exceeding usefulness to the fishermen," and said that it
required "rebuilding entirely."
The 1801 lighthouse outlasted George Day's stay as keeper
by a few months. William Dade became the light's keeper in 1850,
and a new 40-foot octagonal wooden lighthouse tower was built
during the following year. The original keeper's house was repaired
and remained in use. It still stands today, enlarged and altered
over the years.
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- Early engraving of Annisquam Light
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- The second Annisquam Lighthouse,
from a 19th century stereoview
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A fifth-order Fresnel lens, rotated by a clockwork mechanism,
replaced the old lamps and reflector about 1857. A 109-foot covered
walkway between the house and tower was added in 1867.
The covered walkway remained in place until some time after
1900, but a simple uncovered footbridge eventually replaced it.
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Arthur
G. Moore had a relatively short stay as keeper, from January 1 to
September 1, 1872. Moore's wife died in May of that year, as
mentioned in the keeper's log:
May 9, 1872: Lets in with moderate S. W. winds my Wife expired at six O clock this morning
May 11, 1872: Lets in Strong SE winds and rain today at half past two buried my Wife, and my peace ends this day
(Thanks to Bob Donovan and the Cape Ann Historical Association for these log excerpts.)
Dennison Hooper was keeper from 1872 to 1894. His son Edward
was born at the lighthouse in 1879. On September 26, 1888, Edward
Hooper later recalled, two schooners went aground on Coffin's
Beach, across the mouth of the river from the lighthouse. One
was the two-masted I. W. Hine. The crew of the Hine
got ashore without assistance, and the schooner was refloated.
The other wreck that day was the Abbie B. Cramer, a
three-masted coal schooner from Baltimore that was heading for
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Cramer went ashore at the
west end of Coffin's Beach. All hands had to hang on to the vessel's
rigging all day as they waited for help. The crew of the Davis
Neck Lifesaving Station arrived and tried to land a line for
a breeches buoy, but they couldn't hit their target with several
tries.
The Massachusetts Humane Society had kept a lifeboat at the
lighthouse since the days of Keeper George Day. A group of volunteers
took the lifeboat across the river to help the crew of the Cramer.
They had to land the boat on the west side of the river and then
carry it two miles to the beach near the wreck. From there, they
launched it into the surf and succeeded in rescuing the entire
crew of the Cramer. The schooner was a complete loss,
and Hooper claimed that years later he could see wood from the
schooner protruding from the sand at low tide.
Around 1890, a coal schooner from Bucksport, Maine -- the
Mexican -- went ashore in a September northeaster about
150 yards north of the lighthouse. The crew managed to get ashore,
abandoning the vessel, but the schooner was a total loss. "Many
a resident of ''Squam made a saving on their coal bill that winter
through the coal they salvaged as it came ashore," Hooper
recalled.
- Annisquam Light in the late 19th
century (U.S. Coast Guard)
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Keeper Hooper kept several cows in a barn at the station and
sold milk in Annisquam village to help support his family.
Edward recalled that he sometimes had to bring back the cows
when they wandered away from the station at low tide.
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The present 41-foot cylindrical brick lighthouse tower was
built in 1897, on the same foundation as the previous two towers.
In 1922, the old fifth-order lens was replaced by a more powerful
fourth-order lens, powered operated by electricity. A foghorn
was installed in 1931, but the following year it was decided
that the signal would only operate from October 15 through May
15 so summer residents could have peaceful nights. In 1949, it
went into operation in the summer, but only during the day.
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The lighthouse was automated in 1974. A controversy erupted
that year when the Coast Guard removed the fog signal.
Local boaters and fishermen complained, and one collected
thousands of signatures on a petition to save the fog signal.
In 1975, a switch to activate the fog signal was installed at
the local police station.
Today the electronic fog signal is automated, activated by
a sensor.
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- U.S. Coast Guard photo
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- Contractor Marty Nally at the top
of Annisquam Light.
- Carpenters work on the roof of the
keeper's dwelling in the background.
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Inspections in the 1990s found that iron beams in the tower,
installed to support a landing below the lantern level, had badly
rusted and deteriorated, causing the upper part of the tower
to lift more than three inches. Daylight could be seen from inside
the tower through the resulting crack.
It was decided that the beams needed to be replaced, along
with about five to six feet of brickwork all the way around the
tower.
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Coast Guard architect Marsha Levy of Civil Engineering Unit
Providence did the design work for the rehabilitation of the
lighthouse. Campbell Construction Group of Beverly, Massachusetts,
was the contractor. According to Marty Nally, mason and vice
president of Campbell Construction Group, the lighthouse was
very well built by the original masons. They couldn't have foreseen
the problem with the rusting beams, he says, and they didn't
have the advantage of today's rust resistant metals.
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Nally and his crew removed and replaced about 3,000 bricks
in the tower during the restoration. They also removed the old
glass block windows and replaced them with new ones. The restoration
was completed in August 2000.
The 1801 keeper's house has been altered over the years and
is modernized inside. As part of the restoration project, the
dwelling's roof was replaced, using durable, wind resistant shingles.
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- Annisquam Light surrounded by scaffolding
during the 2000 rehabilitation
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A Coast Guard family lives at the station, and visitors should
remember to respect the privacy of the occupants. Some tour boats
from Gloucester pass Annisquam Light, and it can also be seen
distantly from Wingaersheek Beach.
You can read much more about this lighthouse in the book The Lighthouses
of Massachusetts by Jeremy D'Entremont.
- A view from the top
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- Keepers: George
Day (1801-1850); William Dade (1850-1853); Dominicus Poole (1853-1872); Arthur G. Moore (1872);
Dennison Hooper (1872-1894); John Davis (c. 1900-1936); Per Frederick
Tornberg (1936-?); Howard Ball (c. 1950); Roy S. Pittsley
(Coast Guard, ?-c.1965); Armand E. Houde (Coast Guard, September
1965 to December 1967)
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