In July 1789, Representative Elbridge Gerry of Marblehead, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later Vice President of the United States under President James Madison, filed H.R. Bill 12 in Congress, officially launching the United States Lighthouse and Navigational Aid System; it passed the House on July 20, 1789, the Senate on July 31, 1789, and was signed into law by President George Washington on August 7, 1789. In 1831 the town petitioned Congress for a lighthouse, and $4500 was approved. In 1833 the town bought 3.97 acres for $375, and the property was later transferred to the federal government. The first light was established on July 10, 1835, and lit on October 10 as a white stone tower with a fixed white light, an attached dwelling, and a covered walkway, 22 feet 3 inches high and 57 feet above mean high water. Ezekiel Darling, a veteran gunner's mate on USS Constitution, was the first of eleven keepers, or "wickies." In 1883, newly built surrounding cottages obscured the light, so an adjacent 100-foot mast was erected with a lantern hoisted on it. In 1895, the second light and present lighttower were erected as an iron, pyramidal skeleton tower, 105 feet to the focal plane and 130 feet above mean high water, with a 6th order Fresnel lens and fixed white light; its color remains the same today: metallic brown with black parapet and black lantern, and it is the only one of its kind in New England. The tower cost $8786, and it was lit on April 17, 1896. The light was changed to fixed red in 1910, electrified in 1922, changed to green in 1938, extinguished during World War II in 1941, and the land was transferred by the federal government to the town in 1947 through a donation by Chandler Hovey. The keeper's quarters were razed in 1959, and the light was automated in 1960. The keepers were Ezekiel Darling, 1835-1860; Jane C. Martin, 1860-1862; John Goodwin, 1862-1872; James S. Bailey, 1872-1892; Albert M. Hortey, 1892-1893; Henry T. Drayton, 1893-1928; Russell B. Eastman, 1928-1930; Edwin C. Rogers, 1930-1938; Harry S. Marden, 1938-1941; U.S. Army, 1941-1947; and Joseph T. Barry, 1947-1954.
