Ipswich, MA
Built 1837

What follows is the story of a daring 1839 rescue in a fierce storm. Some were saved. Some died. A century later drifting sand was so high that ligthouse keepers had to enter through a window.

Because of increasing maritime traffic in the early 1800s, reliable aids to navigation to guide mariners to the Ipswich River on the northern Massachusetts coast became a necessity. After a congressional appropriation of $7,000 in 1837, two 29-foot brick lighthouses were built, along with a brick dwelling. The two lights served as a range for mariners, who would line them up as they headed through the main channel toward the mouth of the river.

The first keeper was Thomas Smith Greenwood, a native of Boston. Greenwood had gone to sea as a young man and eventually became the captain of clipper ships. He and his wife, Paulina Adams (Thurlow), had eight children.

Greenwood first tried to save Captain Cotterill, who was barely alive. As the captain was being lowered into the lifeboat, a great wave hit and the man was lost, along with the lifeboat. The captain’s wife, witnessing her husband’s drowning, became hysterical. Greenwood and Marshall convinced the woman to jump from the rigging into their arms. Two other survivors managed to reach shore by clinging to wreckage; Greenwood, Marshall, and the captain’s wife were carried safely to shore by a great wave. Captain Cotterill and three crewmen who died in the wreck were buried in Ipswich a few days later.After a congressional appropriation of $7,000 in 1837, two 29-foot brick lighthouses were built

Because the channel continually shifted, the towers had to be moved several times. At some point before 1867 the front light was replaced by a shanty-like affair known as the "bug light." By 1878 the rear tower was badly cracked, and the dwelling was severely deteriorated.