Edgartown Harbor Light

Edgartown Harbor Light marks the entrance to Edgartown Harbor and Katama Bay on Martha’s Vineyard and has long served vessels using the harbor. First built in 1828 during the island’s whaling boom, the original lighthouse stood offshore on an artificial island and was later linked to land by the Bridge of Sighs and then a stone causeway. After repairs, upgrades, and fire damage, that first structure was destroyed by the Hurricane of 1938. In 1939 a cast-iron tower from the Ipswich Rear Range Light was installed here. Threatened with demolition in the early 1980s, it was preserved through local advocacy and became the first active U.S. lighthouse transferred to a civilian organization.

Edgartown, Massachusetts · United States