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Its
days as a whaling center were long past, but New Bedford was still an
important port in the late 1800s. It was the third largest
manufacturing city in Massachusetts, and about 500,000 tons of shipping
entered the port in 1890 alone. Butler Flats Light, built in 1898 for
$34,000, replaced the old Clark's Point Light, which had been active
since 1804. The appropriation for the lighthouse was Butler Flats was
secured largely through the efforts of Congressman Sturtevant Randall.
Butler Flats Light was designed by F. Hopkinson Smith, also
an artist and writer. Smith's place in lighthouse history is
secure largely due to his planning of Race Rock Light in Fisher's
Island Sound. Smith also built the foundation of the Statue of
Liberty.
Built in shallow water with no solid rock for a foundation,
Butler Flats Light was a challenge to construct. An iron cylinder
35 feet in diameter was put into place after five feet of mud
was dredged. The cylinder was filled with stone and concrete,
then the brick lighthouse was built on top. The tower was painted
red for a time, but it was changed to white in 1899.
The "sparkplug" style light has four stories. The
basement served as a storage area. Above that were office space,
living quarters which were 18 feet in diameter, and a watchroom.
Butler Flats Light originally had a fifth-order kerosene-fueled
Fresnel lens, which has since been replaced.
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U.S. Coast Guard
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From its first lighting until 1942, when the Coast Guard took
over from the Lighthouse Service, Butler Flats Light had only
two keepers, Captain Amos Baker Jr., and his son, Charles A.
Baker. Captain Amos Baker Jr., had been in charge at Clark's
Point Light for some years earlier, and his father was keeper
there before him. In total, the two lights were kept by the Bakers
for about 80 years.
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- Captain Amos Baker Jr.
- Courtesy of the City of New Bedford
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After arriving at the lighthouse in April 1898, Amos Baker,
Jr., wrote:
At 7 A.M. took charge of Butler Flats Lighthouse with Charles
A. Baker as Assistant Keeper. The lighthouse is new but found
it very wet and leaky and very dirty and everything topsy turvy.
Captain Amos Baker Jr. was widowed twice during his years
at Butler Flats, but his loneliness was eased by the fact that
his son, Charles, was assistant keeper. He also had occasional
visits from his daughter, Amy.
Some of the logs of Captain Baker are in the possession of
the Old Dartmouth Historical Society. The entry for Christmas
in 1907 reads:
A pleasant Christmas Day... Squally in the evening, but
we had some music from the phonograph so we had sunshine inside.
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A fog bell was sounded by an automatic striking mechanism
when needed, producing a double blow every 15 seconds. Amy Baker
enjoyed saluting passing vessels with the fog bell. The famous
Captain Joshua Slocum gave Amy a copy of a booklet about his
sloop Spray with the inscription, "To the little
girl who rang the bell each time I passed the light." Amy
Baker later wrote of the fog bell:
To one not used to it, it would seem almost unbearable
when going for any length of time, but I have often been told
in the morning that it had been running during the night, when
I knew nothing of it, sleeping soundly all the while. Vessels
are saluted by this bell.
- From the collection of Edward Rowe
Snow
- Courtesy of Dorothy Bicknell
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The Baker family mostly found Butler Flats Light a pleasant
place in summer, but winters were another story. Amy Baker wrote:
In the winter ice shakes the light a good deal at times
and it is scarcely pleasant to have the chair in which you sit
shake and realize what might happen if the ice proved stronger
than the iron plates of the caisson.
In 1905, 200 tons of rip-rap stones were placed around the
base of the lighthouse to help protect it against damage from
ice.
When Amos Baker died in 1911, his obituary recounted his fascinating
life. Baker had first gone to sea as a 12-year-old cabin boy
on the whaling ship Messenger, of which his father was
captain. In 1862, as Third Mate on the bark Stafford, Baker
had his leg broken in two places by a whale and spent 80 days
on his back. By 1874 he became the captain of the bark A.R.
Tucker. He became lighthouse keeper at Clark's Point after
his second voyage as captain, a voyage which lasted 29 months.
Baker's obituary went on to say, "For 13 years he lived
in Butler Flats Lighthouse. Visitors occasionally came alongside,
and Captain Baker's cheery, "Come aboard!" always made
them glad to obey and see the old seaman's comfortable house."
Visitors' signatures in the register while Amos Baker was keeper
included that of President Grover Cleveland.
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Keeper Charles A. Baker, who replaced his father, was alone
at Butler Flats Light during the Hurricane of '38, which battered
the south facing New England coast. Someone later told Baker
that since they could see from shore that the light was on, they
knew Baker was all right. Baker responded, "What a foolish
remark. As long as I could crawl, I would get the light going."
Charles Baker retired in 1941 and the Coast Guard took over the
operation of Butler Flats Light.
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In 1975, a new automatic light and fog signal were placed
on New Bedford's hurricane barrier, which had been built to protect
the harbor after the devastating Hurricane of '38. The Coast
Guard deemed the lighthouse unnecessary and it came under the
control of the City of New Bedford in 1978. It was automated
and became one of the first solar-powered lighthouses in the
nation. A private group took responsibility for the maintenance
of the light.
A New Bedford surgeon, John B. O'Toole, rowed out to the lighthouse
every four months to replace the batteries and clean the solar
panels. He claimed to have a secret method for keeping birds
off the panels. He told the Boston Globe, "Everybody
in New Bedford loves the lighthouse." A plaque dedicated
to the late Dr. O'Toole is now on the shore near the lighthouse.
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- U.S. Coast Guard photo
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Sadly, like the other lighthouses in the New Bedford area,
Butler Flats became a favorite target for vandals. Shots have
been fired at the light, and the tower covered with graffiti.
In 1992 vandals got into the tower and broke windows, battered
the walls, and damaged the battery-operated light. In 1993 the
lighthouse was fitted with a new optic, and it was made more
secure by the addition of an exterior lighting system. The tower
was also made more difficult to enter.
In September 1997 inmates from the Bristol County House of
Correction went to work at Butler Flats Light. The project is
a joint venture of Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson and
New Bedford Mayor Rosemary S. Tierney. The inmates rewired the
electrical system and did work on the tower's walls, ceilings,
floors and stairway.
On April 30, 1998, more than 600 people attended a celebration
of Butler Flats Light's 100th birthday. A new, brighter optic,
powered by a cable from the shore, was installed by Hugh Murray,
the retired New Bedford wire inspector who in recent years has
headed up the preservation efforts. "Thank you for truly
restoring a guardian of the night," said Rev. David C. Hurtle,
chaplain of the Seamen's Bethel.
- Some volunteers inside the lighthouse
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City Councilor Victor Pinheiro said, "It means something
extra special to all of us who have lived in this part of the
city." Anne Blum Brengle, director of the Old Dartmouth
Historical Society, read excerpts from the writings of Amy Baker.
"Just as the Old Light successfully withstood the storms,"
she read, "let us hope that Butler Flats may be a guide
to sailors for many a long year."
Thanks to volunteers like Hugh Murray, Peter Duff and Manuel
Mendonca, it looks like the lighthouse has a bright future.
Butler Flats Light is currently the only lighthouse in the
U.S. flying a lighted American flag 24 hours a day.
A good view of Butler Flats Light can be obtained from the
New Bedford-Martha's Vineyard ferry. The lighthouse can also
be seen from many points on New Bedford's waterfront.
The old fifth-order Fresnel lens from Butler Flats is now
on display at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland, Maine.
It's said to be one of only two flashing fifth-order lenses ever
installed in American lighthouses.
You can read much more about this lighthouse in the book The Lighthouses
of Massachusetts by Jeremy D'Entremont.
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- Volunteers Peter Duff and Hugh Murray
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- Hugh Murray changes the optic on
April 30, 1998
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- Keepers: Amos
Baker, Jr. (1898-1911); Charles A. Baker (1911-1941); Leland
S. Rose (1943-1946)
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