- Watch Hill Light
The Watch Hill Lighthouse in
Watch Hill, Rhode Island , has served as a nautical beacon for ships since 1745, when the Rhode Island colonial government erected a watchtower and beacon during theFrench and Indian War andRevolutionary War . Destroyed in a 1781 storm, plans were discussed to build a new lighthouse to mark the eastern entrance toFishers Island Sound and to warn mariners of a dangerous reef southwest of Watch Hill. PresidentThomas Jefferson signed an act to build the lighthouse in 1806 and construction was completed in 1807. The first lighthouse stood convert|35|ft|m tall.In 1827 a rotating light was installed to differentiate the light from that of the
Stonington Harbor Light inConnecticut . Erosion forced the lighthouse to close in 1855 and move further away from the bluff edge.The next lighthouse, opened in 1856, stands convert|45|ft|m tall. Sixteen years later the steamer "Metis" crashed off Watch Hill in 1872 killing 130 people. A
United States Life-Saving Service station was built next to the lighthouse where it operated until the 1940s and was destroyed in 1963. In 1873 Captain Jared Starr Crandall, operator of the lighthouse, was awarded theCongressional Gold Medal for rescue operations involving the Metis. In 1879, Capt. Crandall's widow, Sally Ann (Gavitt) Crandall, became the first woman lighthouse operator there.In 1907, the steamer "Larchmont" collided with a
schooner killing 200 people four miles from the lighthouse. TheHurricane of 1938 caused severe damage to the lighthouse. The "Leif Viking " ran aground a few hundred feet from the lighthouse in 1962, and although there were no injuries, the ship was stranded for nine days. The lighthouse was automated in 1986 and leased to theWatch Hill Lightkeepers Association .See also
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List of Congressional Gold Medal recipients
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