New London Harbor, Connecticut
Harbour Lights #352

The New London Harbor Lighthouse is the oldest and tallest light in Connecticut! This historic Light serves as a reminder of New London’s stature as a whaling port third busiest, New Bedford and Nantucket were ranked first and second respectively.

The station was established in 1761 with the present tower built in 1912.
Looking into original history of the Light’s construction, a lottery held in 1760 provided the colonial Connecticut State Legislature with the funding necessary to build the stone tower. Thousands of tickets were sold! The Lighthouse’s 64’ stone tower with a wooden lantern was the first for the harbor and only the fourth in the United States.

In 1800, the tower began to show signs of age with a crack extending from the lantern room down 10”. The other problem was that the light was so dim that it was indistinguishable from neighboring homes and to the west of the harbor the light was totally obscured.

In 1801, a New London native, Abisha Woodward built the current octagonal, tapered 80’ tower of hammered smooth freestone sitting on a foundation of granite, brownstone and native stone. The 9” thick walls were lined with brick; with a wooden staircase leading to the lantern room. The original light of this new tower was a flashing light with an eclipser, later replaced in 1834 with 11 oil lamps with a 13” reflector. Finally in 1857, a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens was installed.

A 2.5 story brick Keeper’s house, detached from the tower, had been many times restored with the latest being in 1900 when the quarters were enlarged.

New Londoners were not always fond of their neighboring Lighthouse. In 1904 the first fog siren was installed while welcome to mariners, the constant “horrible groaning and shrieking” ruined many a night’s sleep. To resolve the problem in 1906 a DABOLL TRUMPET brought some relief. In 1911, with the lighting of the New London Ledge Light the New London Harbor fog signal was silenced for good.

Known to the locals as the Pequot Avenue Lighthouse, the Keeper’s house is privately owned while the tower is maintained by the New London Maritime Society.