Below the concrete cap sits the stone foundation of Beavertail's 1749 lighthouse, built to provide safe passage into Newport's colonial harbor and designed by Peter Harrison, later known for the Redwood Library, Touro Synagogue, and the Brick Market in Newport. Beavertail was the third lighthouse built in the American Colonies. Although it was long believed that the first light tower was circular, a 2008 ground-penetrating radar survey found that it was octagonal and made of wood; that tower burned down in 1753. A stone tower was built in 1753, but in 1779 the British burned it as they departed Rhode Island and removed some of the lighting equipment. In 1856, the present granite light tower was built farther from shore, the old stone tower was torn down, and a fog signal building was constructed on the foundation. The old foundation remained hidden and forgotten until the great hurricane of 1938 destroyed the fog signal building, tore up the ground in front of the light tower, and uncovered it. During World War II, the Rhode Island National Guard installed a searchlight, a mobile gun emplacement, and range-finding equipment on top of the concrete cap, and later an electrical fog light was placed there.
