Bird Island Light

Bird Island Light

Marion, MA
31 feet, light is 37 feet above water.

This may be a little lighthouse on a tiny island, but its some of its tales are quite tall. An accused pirate and a ghost are among its better-known residents.

Jeremy’s Lighthouse Guide #31

The first keeper of Bird Island Light was William S. Moore. Local legend says that Moore was a pirate and that he was banished to Bird Island as punishment. Some accounts also claim that Moore murdered his wife and subsequently disappeared. A gun was reportedly found in a secret hiding place, along with a bag of tobacco, when the original keeper's house was torn down around 1890. The gun was believed by some to have been the murder weapon.

A note was also found, signed by Keeper Moore. It blamed certain nearby residents for providing the tobacco that he said had killed his "Dearly Loved" wife. Although she’s supposedly buried on the island, there’s no sign of the grave.

Later keepers were frightened by the reported apparition of a hunched-over old woman, rapping at the door during the night. They said she was reaching out as if begging for something – tobacco, maybe?

During a bad winter in 1890, the 11-month-old child of Keeper Peter Murray became ill with pneumonia. The ice prevented the keeper from getting the baby to the mainland and he had no way of signaling for help. Desperate, he extinguished the light to attract attention. Help eventually arrived, but too late. The Murrays buried their child on the mainland and never returned to Bird Island.

Bird Island Light was taken out of service on June 15, 1933. It’s a lucky thing nobody was living there five years later, when the hurricane of '38 destroyed every building except the lighthouse tower.

Since 1966, the island has been owned by the Town of Marion. In 1994, the Bird Island Preservation Society was formed. The Society raised funds for restoration, and the comeback was capped by a relighting ceremony on July 4, 1997.

You can read more HISTORY of this lighthouse by clicking here

Bird Island LIght

Bird Island Lighthouse

Bird Island Lioght View

Copyright 2005 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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