On September 21, 1938, two days before Mabel Small's 48th birthday, the worst hurricane in New England history battered the south-facing coast. During the afternoon of the storm Arthur Small decided to light the lighthouse. Leaving his wife in the oil house on the island's highest ground, Small attempted to walk the 350 feet from the house to the tower.

Part of the way to the tower, Small was struck by a large wave that smashed him against a metal fence. As he managed to get to his feet, he looked back and saw his wife attempting to launch a rowboat to come to his aid. As Mabel Small tried to launch the boat a wave destroyed the boathouse. Arthur Small lost sight of his wife.

Somehow, injured and in shock, Arthur Small made it to the tower. Small lighted up and waited through the night, unable to leave the tower until the storm abated. In the morning neighbors found Arthur Small and took him to a hospital. Mabel Small had not survived. Her body was later found and identified in Fairhaven.

The light was automated in 1941. With the construction of a massive hurricane wall in the harbor in 1963, the lighthouse was deemed useless. In 1966 the tower was burned by arsonists, gutting the interior and practically destroying the lantern.

After a couple of restoration efforts, the lighthouse again fell victim to vandalism. It remained dark through most of the 1990s. It was decided that restoring and relighting Palmer's Island Lighthouse would be one of the city's Millennium projects.

Welder Jose Pereira rebuilt the lantern, preserving the original metal frame. The tower was repainted by a crew provided by the Bristol County Sheriff Department's Pre-Release Program. A new solar-powered beacon was installed.

A large crowd gathered on the pleasant evening of August 30, 1999, to witness the relighting, 150 years almost to the minute after the lighthouse’s first lighting. In a dramatic tribute to the city's past, three crews from the Whaling City Rowing Club took part in the relighting ceremony. Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz, Jr., handed oil lanterns to the crews and the three boats made their way to the island. As the crowd watched quietly, Mayor Kalisz waved another lantern in the air and the lighthouse soon began to flash.

Palmer's Island is accessible at low tide from New Bedford's hurricane wall. The lighthouse can be seen from the New Bedford Whaling Museum and other spots on shore, and the ferry to Cuttyhunk Island passes the island, as does a harbor tour offered daily in season.

For lots more HISTORY on this lighthouse visit Lighthouse.cc