Type:
Year Established:
1852
Existing:
Yes
Source:
LL-1879
Download:
Prudence Island LH RI - Ralph Eshelman.jpeg (724.3 KB)
File Type:
jpeg (image/jpeg)
Photo Credit:
Ralph Eshelman
Photo Courtesy of:
U.S. Lighthouse Society
Collection / Donor:
LOCATION
Location:
EAST SIDE SANDY POINT/NARRAGANSETT BAY
Latitude:
41° 36.3'
Longitude:
71° 18.2'
City / Town:
PORTSMOUTH
U.S. State:
Rhode Island
Location County:
NEWPORT
Country:
United States
OWNER & ACCESS
Open to Public:
No
STRUCTURE
Year Tower Established:
1824
Tower Construction Material:
GRANITE BLOCKS
Tower Foundation:
NATURAL/EMPLACED
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
30 feet above water
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
25 feet
Tower Shape:
OCTAGONAL
Tower Daymark:
White
Fog Signal Building?:
No
Keeper's Quarters?:
No
Year Keeper's Quarters:
1852
Keeper's Quarters Construction:
Wood Frame
Other Structures:
DESTROYED: ELEVATED WALKWAY, OIL HOUSE, SHED, BARN, BOATHOUSE
OPTICS
Current Optic:
250 MM
Original Optic Type:
FIFTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Year Original Lens Installed:
1852
Private Aid:
No
USCG Access to Optics:
No
Entered by:
Entered Date:
Jul 21, 2017
HISTORICAL INFORMATION:
In 1862 a white octagonal tower for a lighthouse was built on Sandy Point on the east side of Prudence Island, R. I. With the tower was built a keeper’s dwelling.
During the terrible September hurricane of 1938, five persons, including the wife of the lighthouse keeper, were carried out to sea and drowned, when the dwelling house on the lighthouse reservation was swept away by the savage fury of the tropical gale. The keeper was also thrown into the sea, but another wave swept him back ashore. The light itself is only 28 feet above water and is visible for 10 miles, flashing green every 6 seconds. The light is now unwatched, being a 1,400-candlepower fourth-order electric. A bell renders one stroke every 15 seconds during fog.