Deactivated 1913 Construction Wood Opened 1897 Year first constructed 1897 | Foundation Masonry Tower shape Octagonal Material Wood | |
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Location Spectacle Island
Boston Harbor Markings / pattern White
later White with red center stripe Similar Lovells Island Range Li, Broad Sound Channel I, Nantucket Cliff Range Lights, Ipswich Range Lights, Nantucket Beacon | ||
The Spectacle Island Range Lights were a pair of range lights on Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor. They were established in 1897 and discontinued in 1913 after changes in the entrance channels to the harbor made them obsolete.
History
A range to mark the channel into Boston harbor was requested by the Lighthouse Board in 1892; the appropriation was not passed until 1895. Two identical octagonal towers were constructed, each equipped with a red reflector light. Originally painted white, they were repainted with a red band in the midsection in 1904. At the same time the two towers were relocated 15 feet (4.6 m) south.
The year before the relocation, the Broad Sound Channel Inner Range Lights had been built on the island, immediately adjacent to the older lights. The two sets of lights were often confused, and when it was proposed to discontinue the Spectacle Island range because the channel had shifted, the discontinuance was objected to because it was thought the other range was going to be eliminated. The confusion was cleared up and the objections withdrawn, and the Spectacle Island range was discontinued in 1913.