Type:
Year Established:
1829
Existing:
Yes
Download:
File Type:
jpg (image/jpeg)
Photo Date:
2000
Photo Credit:
Mike and Carol McKinney
Photo Courtesy of:
US Lighthouse Society Archives
Collection / Donor:
LOCATION
Location:
PORTLAND HARBOR/LAKE ERIE
Latitude:
42° 20.27'
Longitude:
79° 35.42'
City / Town:
WESTFIELD
U.S. State:
New York
Location County:
CHAUTAUQUA
Country:
United States
OWNER & ACCESS
Open to Public:
No
STRUCTURE
Year Discontinued:
1859
Year Tower Established:
1829
Tower Construction Material:
FIELDSTONE
Tower Foundation:
NATURAL EMPLACED
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
40
Tower Shape:
CONICAL
Fog Signal Building?:
No
Keeper's Quarters?:
Yes
Year Keeper's Quarters:
1829
Keeper's Quarters Style:
COTTAGE (MODIFIED 1890S)
Keeper's Quarters Construction:
FIELDSTONE
OPTICS
Current Optic:
GAS "STREET LAMP"
Original Optic Type:
11 LAMPS W/14-INCH REFLECTORS
Year Original Lens Installed:
1829
Private Aid:
No
USCG Access to Optics:
No
Entered by:
Entered Date:
Jul 21, 2017
The Barcelona light built in 1829, and sometimes called the Portland light located on Lake Erie, was unique because of its fuel source. The nearby town of Fredonia, New York was the first site in North America to commercially use Natural gas, starting in 1821. The Barcelona Lighthouse was located 18 miles west of Fredonia and for part of its life, it used a nearby ‘spring’ of Natural gas carried a distance of two miles in pipes to the tower to light its lamps. The Lighthouse Service was obliged to keep standard Sperm-Whale oil lamps in the tower as a backup light source, because water frequently collected in the gas pipes, over which the gas would not pass. While the pipes were removed and freed from water, the oil lamps had to be used. Unfortunately, the Natural gas gave out in 1838, and the gas lamps were removed.