BEAVERTAIL LIGHTHOUSE RHODE ISLAND

On the south end of Conanicut Island. Beavertail Lighthouse was the third lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States, the original tower having been constructed in 1749. Its erection was authorized as early as 1738 by the General Assembly of the Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation; but nothing was then done because of war breaking out between England and Spain. The first lighthouse has now been gone for nearly a century, but there stands in its place a more sturdy structure, built of granite, which was built in 1856. Almost from its first erection, Beavertail has been a sort of proving ground for various types of signaling equipment, many of which were here first tried out. One of the most curious of these was an early air-operated fog signal, for which a horse was kept on hand for the purpose of operating the air compressor. At the present time Beavertail is equipped with an electric lamp set inside a fourth-order lens. It also has a compressed-air-operated siren. (1) (2)