American Lighthouse History

1716: Boston Lighthouse on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, was established.

1721: New Orleans beacon built by Adrien de Pauger.

1749: Beavertail Lighthouse built on the south end of Conanicut Island at entrance to Narragansett Bay.

1764: Sandy Hook Lighthouse was first lighted.

1767: Construction of Cape Henlopen Lighthouse completed.

1767: Charleston Lighthouse built on Morris Island, South Carolina.

1768: Lighthouse constructed on Gurnet Point, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1771: Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse built on the point at Newcastle, New Hampshire.

1789: Act of Congress creats the Lighthouse Establishment as an administrative unit of the Federal Government.

1792: Octagonal sandstone tower at Cape Henry at entrance to Chesapeake Bay was lighted.

1793 President George Washington approves contract for floating beacon with two masts and cages for the Delaware River.

1797 Act of Congress provides for 16 buoys in or near Boston Harbor.