Ipswich Range, MA 
Select a photograph to view a photo gallery
Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery
On the north shore of Massachusetts, where the Ipswich River meets Ipswich Bay, shifting sands and shallow bars have long complicated navigation. For centuries, mariners approaching the harbor faced the hazards of Plum Island’s shoals and the constantly changing channel at the river’s mouth. The establishment of the Ipswich Range Lights in the nineteenth century was undertaken by the federal government to provide reliable guidance through these treacherous waters.
The area surrounding Ipswich was known to Indigenous peoples as Agawam, and its potential as a harbor was recognized early in the colonial period. When the English explorer Captain John Smith charted the coast in 1614, he noted the Ipswich River as a “good and safe harbor.” English settlers arrived in 1633 under John Winthrop Jr., and the town soon developed thriving fisheries and shipbuilding enterprises. By the early nineteenth century, the harbor supported a busy coastal trade, and mariners increasingly called for navigational aids to guide them through the narrow entrance.
|
The first formal step toward establishing a lighthouse occurred in 1829, when a petition from residents of the Ipswich district was presented to Congress requesting a lighthouse at the harbor entrance. As maritime activity continued to grow, the need for lights became more pressing. On March 3, 1837, Congress appropriated $7,000 for the construction of two small lighthouses, if necessary, “on proper sites at or near Ipswich Harbor.”
Soon afterward, Stephen Pleasonton of the Treasury Department’s Fifth Auditor’s Office directed collector David Henshaw to proceed with construction. Henshaw was instructed to consult Joseph Dennis of Ipswich regarding the proper location and to acquire land for the light station. Four acres on Castle Neck, east of the river mouth, were purchased for ten dollars from John Baker and Tristram Brown along with rights of access to the property.
By the fall of 1837, construction was moving rapidly. Contractors were ordered to build two brick towers thirty feet high, along with a brick dwelling for the keeper. The towers were erected on the sandy beach about 542 feet apart, aligned roughly east–west so that when viewed in line they would guide vessels safely over the bar. The lights were equipped with multiple oil lamps and reflectors, originally ten in each tower, and displayed fixed white lights.
The station was completed for $5,740, significantly less than the original appropriation. On November 13, 1837, a formal Notice to Mariners announced that the two lights on Ipswich Beach would be illuminated beginning December 1. Mariners were instructed that keeping the lights aligned would lead them across the bar in the deepest water, where eight feet could be found at low tide.
Thomas S. Greenwood, a former sea captain from Boston, became the first keeper in October 1837 with a salary of $400 per year. Greenwood and his family moved into the keeper’s dwelling beside the towers and quickly became part of the coastal community.
Only two years after the lights were established, Greenwood performed one of the most dramatic rescues in the station’s history. On the night of December 23, 1839, during the second of the devastating “triple hurricanes” that struck the New England coast that year, the schooner Deposit ran aground on Lakeman’s Beach near the lighthouse.
The storm was violent, and launching a boat through the heavy surf seemed impossible. By morning several members of the crew had already died from exposure. Determined to reach the survivors, Greenwood tied a 200-foot rope around his waist and swam through the icy surf to the wreck while a neighbor, Joseph Marshall, held the other end of the line ashore. Greenwood secured the rope to the schooner, allowing Marshall to bring out a small boat. Although Captain Cotterell was lost when a wave overturned the boat, Greenwood and Marshall ultimately rescued the captain’s wife and two crewmen. The heroic effort earned them gold lifesaving medals from the Massachusetts Humane Society.
Despite the bravery of its keepers, the Ipswich light station itself soon drew criticism for poor construction. In 1842, engineer I. W. P. Lewis conducted a detailed survey of American lighthouses and found the Ipswich towers to be badly built. The brick structures had been erected directly on sand with no proper foundation, and the mortar had barely set. Both towers and the keeper’s dwelling leaked badly, and water frequently ran down the staircases, freezing in winter.
The lanterns and lighting apparatus were also crude. The western tower contained a revolving light driven by a makeshift mechanism powered by a weight made from an old nail keg filled with stones. The arrangement often stopped unexpectedly. Lewis concluded that the entire system was “of the rudest kind.”
Another problem soon emerged: the shifting sandbars at the mouth of the Ipswich River. When the towers were erected in 1837 they aligned with the channel across the bar. Within a few years, however, the channel had migrated southward. Lewis warned that a mariner relying strictly on the lights might run aground on the growing spit of Plum Island.
Because the coastline and channel were constantly shifting, the front range light had to be relocated several times. At some point before 1867, the original structure was replaced with a smaller beacon known locally as the “bug light.” In June 1867, this front light was moved 550 feet to align with a newly formed channel. Additional adjustments were made over the years as the sands continued to shift.
|
During this period the station underwent frequent repairs. Walkways connecting the dwelling and the towers were rebuilt, machinery was cleaned and improved, and the dwelling received various upgrades including a new cistern, windows, and stove fixtures. The plank walkway between the dwelling and the front range light eventually extended nearly 1,000 feet across the sand.
In August 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Benjamin Ellsworth as keeper of the Ipswich lights. A native of nearby Rowley, Ellsworth had previously worked as a fisherman and harbor pilot. He moved to the station with his wife and children and would remain there for more than four decades.
Ellsworth proved to be an exceptionally dedicated keeper. Known for his reliability and modest character, he patrolled the beach during storms to watch for shipwrecks and was responsible for several rescues. One of his most notable occurred in March 1874, when he helped save two fishermen who had clung to the frozen rigging of their wrecked vessel for nearly eighteen hours during a winter storm.
Ellsworth’s daughter Susan became his constant assistant and housekeeper, helping maintain the station and care for the lights. Visitors to the station late in the nineteenth century often remarked on the neatness of the buildings and the care with which the lighthouse was kept.
By the late 1870s, the original brick rear tower was badly deteriorated. Inspectors reported severe cracking in the tower and significant damage to the dwelling. Congress responded by appropriating $10,000 on March 3, 1879, for rebuilding the station and purchasing land for the front range light.
A new keeper’s dwelling was completed in 1880, and the following year a new forty-five-foot cast-iron tower was erected for the rear range light. The structure was similar to several other iron lighthouse towers built along the New England coast during that era. Meanwhile, the front beacon continued to be shifted periodically to track the changing channel.
Throughout the late nineteenth century, the station required constant maintenance. Sand dunes frequently threatened to bury the structures, and fences and embankments were built to control drifting sand. Walkways were rebuilt several times, and the barn and beacon structures were repaired or replaced as needed.
Benjamin Ellsworth continued tending the lights until his death in February 1902 at the age of eighty-nine. Newspapers described him as the oldest lighthouse keeper in the world, noting that he had faithfully kept the lamps burning through storms and harsh winters for forty-one years. His daughter Susan remained a familiar figure in the community for many years afterward.
In the early twentieth century, the station was modernized gradually. A new revolving mechanism was installed in 1902–1903, an oil house was constructed in 1904, and the front tower was again moved in 1905 to match a new channel alignment.
By the 1930s, the need for resident keepers had diminished. In 1932, the front range light was discontinued and the rear light was automated. A few years later, the sand around the cast-iron tower had built up so high that access to the doorway became difficult.
Following the devastating hurricane of 1938, the sturdy iron tower from Ipswich was removed in January 1939 and transported by barge to Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard to replace a damaged lighthouse there. A simple skeletal steel tower was erected at Ipswich to carry an automated light. After being used by town organizations for several years, the keeper’s dwelling fell victim to a suspicious fire in 1973.
Thomas S. Greenwood (1837 – 1841), Joseph Dennis (1841 – 1843), Ebenezer Pulsifer (1843 – 1847), Thomas S. Greenwood (1847 – 1849), John J. Philbrook (1849 – 1853), Thomas S. Greenwood (1853 – 1861), Benjamin Ellsworth (1861 – 1902), Benson Kathren (1902), Mills Gunderson (1902 – 1910), Thomas J. Creed (1910 – 1912), George A. Howard (1912 – 1916), Alfred A. Howard (1916 – 1919), George F. Woodman, Jr. (1919 – 1922), Carl D. Hill (1922 – 1932).
