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New Haven, a leading port in
international and coastal trade, became a booming manufacturing
center by the mid-1800s. In a sense, New Haven is the birthplace
of modern American industry; it was here that Eli Whitney, inventor
of the cotton gin, developed new methods of manufacturing. Whitney
had a factory in New Haven where muskets were mass-produced for
the government.
Southwest Ledge is a dangerous rock formation about a mile
offshore on the east side of the main channel into New Haven
Harbor. In 1845, Fifth Auditor and Superintendent of Lights Stephen
Pleasanton had recommended the building of a lighthouse at Southwest
Ledge to replace the old New Haven Light at Five Mile Point,
but the isolated location made the light prohibitively expensive
at that time.
With improvements in lighthouse engineering, the construction
of Southwest Ledge Light began in 1873.
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- U.S. Coast Guard
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- National Archives
- The lighthouse at the Centennial
Exposition in Philadelphia
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The lighthouse was one of the first in the nation to be built
on a cylindrical iron foundation. This shape allowed floating
ice to drift around it in winter rather than becoming trapped
around the foundation.
After rip-rap stones with a central opening were laid to prepare
for the placement of a cylindrical foundation, a major winter
storm caused work to be halted until the following spring.
After the storm damage was repaired, an iron tube was put
in place and filled with concrete.
Before it was put in place at the ledge, the superstructure
of the lighthouse intended for Southwest Ledge was on display
at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, with an
actual lighthouse keeper maintaining a light in the tower during
the exposition. As it turned out, this structure went to Delaware
where it became Ship John Shoal Light, and an identical tower
was sent to Southwest Ledge.
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In the summer of 1876, the 45-foot cast-iron, wood-lined lighthouse
tower was put in place, and Southwest Ledge Light became operational
on January 1, 1877. On the same day the old New Haven Light,
or Five Mile Point Light, was extinguished. Not long after the
lighthouse was built, it became the terminus for a new breakwall
in New Haven Harbor.
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The architectural style of Southwest Ledge Light is unique.
It is eight-sided, with Second Empire detailing and a mansard
roof topped by an octagonal lantern. The interior contains three
stories. The tower was painted red in 1880; it was later painted
white.
The new lighthouse had a fourth-order Fresnel lens exhibiting
a fixed white light, visible for 13 nautical miles. A Daboll
fog signal was installed in 1888. In 1889 a red sector was added
to the lantern to warn mariners approaching Branford Reef and
Gangway Rock.
The first keeper was Elizur Thompson, who had been keeper
of the light at Five Mile Point. He complained of the poor living
conditions in the new lighthouse, which was leaky and damp. Not
much seems to have been done in response to his complaints except
for some minor repairs.
A hurricane in 1889 and other storms caused damage to the
tower's cistern and foundation. Finally in 1911 the foundation
was repaired and reinforced. The dampness of the interior remained
a problem. In 1916 Keeper Edward Grime resigned because of the
dampness problem, the lack of drinkable water, and the presence
of numerous cockroaches.
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- From the Annual Report of the Lighthouse
Board, 1876
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The isolation and poor conditions may have indirectly caused
the death of one assistant keeper in 1908. Assistant Keeper Nils
Nilson (sometimes spelled Nelson)became despondent and violent.
On one occasion Nilson, who was much larger than his superior,
chased Tonnesen around the lighthouse with a fire ax. The keeper
saved himself by locking himself in a storage area, and Nilson
left in a rowboat.
Tonnesen brought his brother-in-law to the station for protection.
Nilson returned and twice threatened to take his own life. The
keeper's brother-in-law intervened, and Nilson again left for
shore. Soon after this, in January 1908, Nils Nilson took his
own life on shore. Before he came to Southwest Ledge, Nilson
had been awarded a gold medal for lifesaving while he was assistant
keeper at Sakonnet Point Lighthouse in Rhode Island.
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The four Coast Guard keepers were removed and Southwest Ledge
Light became an automatic beacon on August 15, 1953. As part
of the automation process, power was supplied by a cable from
shore. After 1953, for some years the lighthouse was looked after
by a "lamplighter" who lived on shore but did maintenance
as needed.
The Fresnel lens was replaced by a modern lens in 1988. The
automated flashing red light and fog signal continue to serve
as active aids to navigation. In early 2001, some maintenance
work was conducted on the lighthouse by the Coast Guard cutter
Penobscot Bay out of Bayonne, New Jersey.
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- U.S. Coast Guard
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- U.S. Coast Guard
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- The cutter Penobscot Bay is
to the right of the lighthouse.
- U.S. Coast Guard photo.
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The lighthouse can be seen distantly from Lighthouse Point
Park and from New Haven's Long Wharf, but it is best seen by
private boat.
You can read much more about this lighthouse in the book The Lighthouses
of Connecticut by Jeremy D'Entremont.
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- The view of the breakwall from the
top of the tower
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- The ladder to the lantern room
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Special thanks to Ed Skvorc for the exciting ride!
Keepers: (This
list is a work in progress. If you have any information on the keepers
of this lighthouse, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at nelights@gmail.com.
Anyone copying this list onto another web site does so at their own
risk, as the list is always subject to updates and corrections.)
Elizur Thompson (1877-1881), James
E. Reeve (assistant, 1877), Henry C. Thompson (assistant, 1877-1882,
head keeper 1882-1898), Frank C. Hall (1898-1905), Jorgen Tonneson
(first assistant 1898-1905, head keeper 1905-?); Edward Anderson
(assistant 1898); William Lincoln Tulty (first assistant 1905-1907);
Julius Jacobson (first assistant 1907); Nils Nilson (first assistant
1907-1908); Bernt Thorstensen (acting first assistant, 1908);
Charles A. Kleinfelder (acting first assistant, 1908); Joseph
H. Royle (first assistant 1908); Curt A. Roll (?) (first assistant
1908-1909); William F. Albridge (first assistant 1910-1911);
Juilius Johansen (first assistant 1911-?); Edward Grime (assistant
c. 1916); George Petzolt (assistant, 1922-1930); Andrew A. McLintock
(U.S. Coast Guard, 1943)
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