In 1835 Congressman John Quincy Adams, representing the Plymouth County District, recommended that a lighthouse be built in Mattapoisett. In 1837 Barnabus Hiller sold four acres at Ned's Point to the government for $240, and the United States Lighthouse Service authorized construction of a 35-foot tower with a bird-cage shaped lantern, 32 cantilevered hand-hewn granite steps quarried in Mattapoisett, and a keeper's house, barn, and oil house. In March 1838, eleven two-tiered whale-oil lamps were lit for the first time, producing a white light. A Firth Order Fresnel lens imported from France was installed in 1857, the keeper's dilapidated stone house was replaced with a wood-frame house in 1888, and a new octagonal lantern and deck were installed in 1896. The light was automated in 1923, and mariners can use the altitude of the optic with a sextant to determine their distance from land. In 1952 the town of Mattapoisett obtained title to Ned's Point Lighthouse Reservation for $3,000 and renamed it Veterans of Mattapoisett Memorial Park, while the U.S. Coast Guard retained the tower, .17 of an acre, and a right of way. In 1961 the automated light was converted to a 6 second isophase, flashing 3 seconds on and 3 seconds off, and the light is visible for 12 nautical miles. In 1988 formal approval was received to list Ned's Point Lighthouse in the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1993 U.S. Coast Guard Flotilla 67, First District Northern Region, adopted Ned's Point Light, the first flotilla in the country to do so, while the Coast Guard's Aids to Navigation Team at Woods Hole serves as the primary service unit.