Marblehead (Sandusky Bay) OH

Type:
Year Established:
1821
Existing:
Yes
Source:
LL-1901
short white lighthouse
Download:
File Type:
jpeg (image/jpeg)
Photo Date:
2016
Photo Credit:
Thomas Tag
Photo Courtesy of:
US Lighthouse Society Archives
Collection / Donor:

LOCATION

Location:
SANDUSKY BAY ENTRANCE/LAKE ERIE
Latitude:
41° 32'11"
Longitude:
82° 42'43"
City / Town:
MARBLEHEAD
U.S. State:
Ohio
Location County:
OTTAWA
Country:
United States

OWNER & ACCESS

Open to Public:
Yes
Light List Data:
  1. Marblehead (Sandusky Bay) OH
Light list data courtesy Gary Riemenschneider

STRUCTURE

Year Tower Established:
1821
Tower Construction Material:
NATIVE LIMESTONE
Tower Foundation:
LIMESTONE
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
67.5 FT ABOVE WATER
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
60 FT
Tower Shape:
CONICAL
Fog Signal Building?:
No
Keeper's Quarters?:
Yes
Year Keeper's Quarters:
1880
Keeper's Quarters Style:
VICTORIAN
Keeper's Quarters Construction:
WOOD FRAME
Other Structures:
WHITE BARN, OUTHOUSE ON ADJACENT PROPERTY

OPTICS

Active Aid to Navigation?:
Yes
Current Optic:
PLASTIC BEACON
Original Optic Type:
13 LAMPS & REFLECTORS
Year Original Lens Installed:
1858
Private Aid:
No
Year Automated:
1958
USCG Access to Optics:
Yes
Comments:

Historical Information:

  • 1819: Congress appropriated $5,000 for a lighthouse "at or between the mouth of the Grand River in Ohio, and the mouth of the Ohio River in Ohio". An additional $5,000 was appropriated by Congress the following year to cover added expenses.
  • 1821: Lighthouse established in 1821. Oldest light in the state of Ohio, second oldest in Lake Erie, and the third oldest on the Great Lakes.
  • 1821: Stephen Pleasonton, Auditor of the U.S. Treasury, visited Rocky Point and selected the site. He negotiated the sale of the land, almost four acres total, for $300 from the estate of Epaphras W. Bull. A contract for the construction of the light and a keeper's dwelling was entered into with Stephen Woolverton. Woolverton subcontracted the actual construction to William Kelly. The cost was $6,520. The original lighting apparatus was 13 Argand whale oil lamps with 16-inch reflectors. It was originally called the Sandusky Bay Light until 1870.
  • 1858: The lighting apparatus was changed to a Fourth Order Fresnel lens.
  • 1897: Tower was increased in height by 15-feet.
  • 1923: Light was electrified.
  • 1939: The light was a "sub-unit" of the nearby Marblehead Lifeboat Station and was manned by personnel attached to that unit.
  • 1958: The light was automated.
  • 1972: The Fresnel lens was removed in 1972 and replaced with a 300 mm green flashing light.
  • Currently an active aid to navigation but the property and lighthouse are now owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
  • The Keeper's House serves as the Marblehead Lighthouse Historical Society Museum.
Entered by:
t.wheeler
Entered Date:
Jul 21, 2017