Musselbed Shoals Light

Musselbed Shoals Light stood in Narragansett Bay at the west entrance to Mount Hope Bay, south of Bristol Point, marking a hazardous shoal-defined channel. Established after earlier marking efforts proved inadequate, it was funded in 1873 and first lit that August. The station was a small square house on a stone-block pier with a roof lantern and fog bell, a practical design but one highly exposed to winter ice. Ice repeatedly damaged the structure, forcing major repairs and rebuilding. After the New England Hurricane of 1938 left it beyond practical repair, it was demolished in 1939 and replaced by a skeleton tower still serving navigation there.

Portsmouth, Rhode Island · United States