Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse |
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Mouth of the Connecticut River, CT
Est 1886, 49 feet, light 58 feet abovewater.
Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse has an honored place on a special Connecticut
license plate as a symbol of the effort to preserve Long Island Sound. It’s a
picturesque structure that’s unfortunately difficult for the general public to
view from land.
Jeremy’s Lighthouse Guide #27
The harbor of Old Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River, was limited
in its development by a large sand bar at the harbor entrance. In the 1870s two
parallel stone jetties were built and a deep channel was dredged between them.
Saybrook Breakwater Light was first lighted at the end of the west jetty on June
15, 1886.
The 49-foot cast-iron tower has a basement, four main floors, a watchroom and
a lantern room. More stones were eventually added to the breakwater making it
possible to walk to the lighthouse, but waves washed over the rocks and in the
winter the breakwater was often covered with ice.
On the afternoon of September 21, 1938, Keeper Sidney Gross noted in the station's
log that a light southeast breeze had sprung up from a perfect calm. As the skies
darkened and the winds increased, Keeper Gross and Assistant Keeper Bennett attempted
to secure the station. By 4:00 p.m. the bridge from the lighthouse to the breakwater
was swept away, as were the platform around the lighthouse and a rowboat. The
two keepers boarded up the window to the engine room, but the waves smashed right
through and flooded the room.
Keeper Gross stayed in the lantern room all through the night of what would be
forever remembered as the Hurricane of ’38. He kept the light going even as he
feared that the lighthouse wouldn't last the night. In the morning Gross surveyed
the damage and entered in the log: "Everything swept away by hurricane except
the tower."
Saybrook Breakwater Light was automated in 1959 and it continues to flash a green
light as an active aid to navigation.
Click for more HISTORY of this lighthouse
Copyright 2004 by Jeremy D'Entremont,New England Lighthouses
Photos are the property of the author and may not be used without permission.
Photos above from Jeremy D'Entremont.
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