Long Tail Point Light
| File:Long Tail Point Light.jpg
The third light in the 1940s (USCG)
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| Location | Southern end of Green Bay |
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| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[1] |
| Year first lit | 1848 (first) 1859 (second) 1899 (third)[2] |
| Automated | 1936[2] |
| Deactivated | 1973[2] |
| Construction | Fieldstone (first tower) Wood frame (second and third) |
| Tower shape | Conical tower (first) Square house with lantern on roof (second and third) |
The Long Tail Point Light, also known as the Tail Point Light, was a lighthouse in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Long abandoned but still standing, it was succeeded by two further structures, both since destroyed.
History
Long Tail Point is a sand bar lying at the southern end of the bay; as it lies adjacent to the channel into the city of Green Bay, a lighthouse was constructed in 1848. The structure was built from fieldstone collected at Bay Settlement on the opposite shore,[3] and was originally lit with an array of oil lamps.[2] These lamps were replaced with a Fresnel lens in the 1850s,[2] but soon the light was surrounded by water, and it was abandoned in 1859 in favor of a new house a short distance to the north.[2] The new lighthouse was an integral frame dwelling with the old lantern placed on its roof; it employed a fourth order Fresnel lens.[3] In 1899 the light's distance from the newly dredged channel prompted the construction of a third light, this time on a concrete pier resting on a wooden crib offshore;[2] the fog bell was moved to the Sand Point Light in Michigan.[4] This new crib house was much smaller than the second house, and the keepers continued to live in the latter until automation of the light in 1936.[2] A storm in 1973 washed this structure away and it was replaced by a skeleton tower.[2]
The second house was sold to a private interest on the understanding that it would be moved; however, during the attempted relocation, the structure fell through the ice and was destroyed.[5] The defunct first tower was given away in 1870, to be torn down.[2] The tower's massive stone walls, however, defeated the new owner's attempts to destroy it, and the truncated tower still stands on the sandy spit.[2][3]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Ruins of the first light from LighthouseFriends
- Photograph of the second light from the Wisconsin Historical Society
