• New Hampshire Lighthouses on the Internet

 Expected to ship
in July 2001

Photo © Paul L. Brady

Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire

Harbour Lights Limited Edition #259

A flurry of activity surrounded the colonial city of Portsmouth as industrious settlers hawked their wares and traded for valuable spices. Supply ships sailed in and out of the harbor, bringing new colonists to the growing region. An important center of commerce in the New World, Portsmouth drew more and more vessels to its harbor.

The citizens of this growing city became concerned for the safety of inbound ships and petitioned for a lighthouse after witnessing one too many shipwrecks. Their prayers were answered in 1771, when a station was established at Fort William and Mary on Newcastle Island. British soldiers at the fort maintained this simple beacon and imposed a tax on local shipping to pay for its maintenance.

Three years later, Paul Revere rode from Boston to Portsmouth to warn residents of Britain’s plans to reinforce the Fort. The colonists raided the fort and successfully made off with weapons and supplies, participating in one of the first battles of the American Revolution.

After the war ended, the fortifications on Newcastle Island were aptly renamed Fort Constitution. Amid all the turmoil, the beacon never wavered, it’s light too important to be extinguished. Workers erected a more permanent wooden lighthouse tower around 1784 and Captain Titus Salter was chosen as its keeper. President George Washington himself visited the lighthouse for four days and, after finding fault with Salter’s performance, ordered a replacement keeper be hired.

Officials established a new 80-foot octagonal wooden lighthouse in 1804. Its fixed light, produced by eleven lamps and reflectors, was now known by several names: Portsmouth Harbor Light, Newcastle Light, Fort Point Light and Fort Constitution Light.

Sound blasts from cannon fire broke the windows, so the lighthouse was eventually moved father away from the fort, shortened to 55 feet and fitted with a Fresnel lens. The keeper’s house was moved from the corner of Ocean Avenue and Sandy Beach to the Farnsworth Battery area, a foolish choice since it was now directly in the path of the booming guns. So once again, it was moved, this time closer to the beacon itself. The wooden lighthouse served the harbor well, but eventually was replaced by a sturdier structure.

In 1877 the current lighthouse at Portsmouth Harbor was established. Located a thousand yards east of the old lighthouse, the new 48-foot, cast-iron sentinel cast its light over the harbor, serving mariners for well over a century.

Today, the American Lighthouse Foundation of Wells, Maine, leases the lighthouse from the Coast Guard, caring for the sentinel and maintaining the grounds. Although the lighthouse has its protector, Fort Constitution is owned by the state and is rapidly deteriorating. The American Lighthouse Foundation hopes to raise awareness of this historic fortification so that the lighthouse can continue to stand near its long-time companion. For more information about Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, please contact the American Lighthouse Foundation at P.O. Box 889, Wells, Maine, 04090 or call (207) 646-0515.

Photography by Paul L. Brady © Harbour Lights 
December 13, 2001