1000 Watt Bulb - used in Beavertail's DCB-24 Beacon from 1991 until 2018. Automatic bulb changer. - This was most commonly used in buoys and fixed lights. This mechanism sensed a burned-out bulb and automatically replaced it with a new one.
This is a stone from the original foundation of the 1st Lighthouse, built in 1749. The erosion caused by the Great Hurricane of 1938 exposed the foundation and in 2012 it was restored to its original state. The foundation can be viewed in front of…
This oil can was used to carry the whale oil up to the top of the tower to keep the light lit. Visitors are invited to try and lift the can and imagine carrying that can of oil up the 49 steps.
This photo was taken in 2000 by Don Bucklin.
The article explains how Bucklin's wife, Hope, had seen a figure within the left window of one of the Lighthouse buildings.
Although not clearly defined, Bucklin could make out "a man in his twenties…
This building was constructed in 1898 to house the Assistant Lighthouse Keeper and his family. The three rooms on the 1*‘ floor comprised the kitchen, dining room, and living room. The 2nd floor consists of 3 bedrooms a toilet and a single…
With knowledge of the current time and geographical position in the form of latitude and longitude, the astrocompass is sighted on any astronomical object with a know position to give an extremely accurate reading determining the direction of "true…
Beavertail was the first Lighthouse in America using a bell for a fog signal. Constructed in 1829 the 600 lb bell on top of a 12' tower was located nearby the existing 1749 lighthouse foundation. The remains of the 1829 fog bell foundation are still…
Linda Levesque also grew up at Beavertail, one of eleven children. Her father, Domenic Turillo, was keeper there in the 1950s and 1960s.
One thing my mother didn't like very much was the inspections the Coast Guard had. My father would go bananas.…
During the Civil War. Peter Lee applied to become keeper in order to free a younger man to enlist in the Union Army. His daughter Ella was nine at the time, the third of six children. In later years Ella liked to tell stories of those days to her…
This model of the Beavertail Lighthouse depicts how it may have appeared between 1749 to 1754.
However, we now know that this model is incorrect. The original lighthouse was octagonal, not circular.