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      • Robinson Point Lighthouse on Isle Au Haut, Maine
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      • Harbor of Refuge Light, Delaware
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    • Massachusetts Lighthouses
      • Annisquam Lighthouse, Massachusetts
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      • Bass River Lighthouse, Massachusetts
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      • Great Point Lighthouse, Nantucket, Massachusetts
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      • Nantucket Lightship, Massachusetts
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      • Ned's Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Newburyport Harbor Range Lights, Massachusetts
      • Nobska Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Palmer Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Plum Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Plymouth Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Race Point Lighthouse, Cape Cod Massachusetts
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      • Scituate Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Stage Harbor Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Straitsmouth Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Tarpaulin Cove Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Ten Pound Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Thacher Island Twin Lights, Massachusetts
      • Three Sisters of Nauset Lighthouses, Massachusetts
      • West Chop Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Wings Neck Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Winter Island Lighthouse
      • Brant Point Lighthouse, Nantucket MA
    • New Hampshire Lighthouses
      • Isles of Shoals Light, New Hampshire
      • Portsmouth Harbor Light, New Hampshire
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      • Absecon Lighthouse, New Jersey
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      • Brandywine Shoal Light, New Jersey
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      • Chapel Hill Rear Range Light, New Jersey
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      • Fourteen Foot Bank Light, New Jersey
      • Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, North Wildwood, New Jersey
      • Miah Maull Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Sandy Hook Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Sea Girt Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Ship John Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Twin Lights of Navesink, New Jersey
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      • Ambrose Lightship, New York
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      • Blackswell Island Light, New York
      • Buffalo Main Lighthouse, New York
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      • Clayton Memorial Lighthouse, New Yrok
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      • Stony Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Sunken Rock Lighthouse, New York
      • Tarrytown Lighthouse, New York
      • Tibbetts Point Lighthouse, New York
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      • Bodie Island Light, North Carolina
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      • Cape Hatteras Light, North Carolina
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Bass River Lighthouse, Massachusetts

A unique stop for the intrepid pharologist while exploring the southern coast of Cape Cod is the Bass River Lighthouse in West Dennis. This little lighthouse has been through many changes over the 150 years of its history and it continues to provide joy and memories for its visitors.
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A 5th Order fixed Fresnel lens was installed in the lantern room.  It exhibited a fixed white light visible for 8 miles.
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A 5th Order fixed Fresnel lens was installed in the lantern room. It exhibited a fixed white light visible for 8 miles.

Bass River 100_6015

BassRiver1006015

  • The Bass River, separating West Dennis and Yarmouth, provided a harbor for seine fishermen and coastal trade in the 1800’s.  The river emptied into Nantucket Sound, a busy waterway, and local sea captains wanted a navigational aid to assist them in finding the harbor.
  • A group of captains contributed 25ȼ a month for the maintenance of a private light.  It was exhibited from an attic window in the home of Warren Crowell who lived on Wrinkle Point at the river entrance.
  • Shipping interests eventually petitioned Congress to establish a federally funded light at Bass River.  In response Congress appropriated $4,000 in September 1850 for the project; however a Revenue Marine officer sent to survey the area deemed the lighthouse as unnecessary and the project stalled.
  • In 1852 the Light House Board sent its own representative to survey the Bass River area.  His report agreed that a light would be useful for maritime trade and Congress once again appropriated $4,000 in March 1853.
  • In March 1854 land was purchased on the waterfront on the eastern side of the river.  Oxen were used to haul building materials across the marshes and dunes.  By early 1855 a white brick 1½ story wood frame Keepers house with a small lantern was completed.
  • A 5th Order fixed Fresnel lens was installed in the lantern room.  It exhibited a fixed white light visible for 8 miles.
  • **Entryway to the lantern** Warren Crowell, who had maintained the private light at Wrinkle Point, was appointed the first Keeper of the Bass River Lighthouse.  He along with his wife and nine children moved into the lighthouse and lit the lamp for the 1st time on April 30, 1855.
  • **Lantern Room floor"" Crowell remained Keeper until he enlisted in the Union Army in December 1863.  His wife and children moved to a home in town and James Chase was named the new keeper, a post he maintained until 1869.
  • Warren Crowell served with Company G of the Massachusetts Volunteers until he was wounded and captured by the Confederates in Petersburg, Virginia.  Crowell was later freed as part of a prisoner exchange.
  • In 1869 Zelotes Wixon was appointed to take the place of Chase as Keeper of the Bass River Lighthouse.  However, when he arrived Chase refused to let Wixon into the lighthouse and provided him with no training in keeping the light.  Eventually Wixon took over and was praised by a lighthouse inspector for his work.
  • **1st Floor palor of the Lighthouse** In the early 1870’s Warren Crowell was reappointed to the Keepers position and moved his family back to the lighthouse.  For a decade much of the social life of West Dennis took place at the lighthouse.
  • In 1880 the Stage Harbor Lighthouse was constructed a few miles east of the Bass River in Chatham.  It was determined by the Light House Board that the Bass River Lighthouse was no longer necessary and it was discontinued on August 1, 1880.  Once again the Crowell’s moved back to their residence in West Dennis.
  • Captains in the area complained about the closing of the Bass River Lighthouse and in 1881 the Light House Board reversed its decision and relit the lighthouse in July 1, 1881.  Captain Samuel Peak was named the new Keeper.  Peak came from a lighthouse family where his father and grandfather had served as Keepers at Cape Cod lighthouses.  Peak would serve as Keeper until his death in 1906.
  • Russell Eastman became the next Keeper of Bass River Light and served until 1914 when the lighthouse was discontinued following the opening of the Cape Cod Canal.  An automatic light was installed on the end of a jetty at the entrance to the river.  The lighthouse property was sold at auction to a Boston businessman who expanded the main house and added some new buildings.
  • In 1938 the property was sold to Everett & Gladys Stone, who began to offer rooms to guests to help defray the cost of the mortgage.  It became so popular that they soon opened it as the Lighthouse Inn offering rooms and food to visitors.  A hurricane in 1944 destroyed the station’s oil house and damaged the property, but the Stone’s repaired the damage and continued to expand their amenities.
  • Three generations of the Stone family have managed the Lighthouse Inn with its reputation for hospitality growing over the years.  In 1989 the Stone family received permission to install a private aid to navigation in the lantern of the old lighthouse.  On August 7, 1989 after 75 years of darkness a 300mm optic flashed from the lighthouse, now designated the West Dennis Light.  You can visit the Lighthouse Inn on the web at www.lighthouseinn.com
  • Old postcard view of the Bass River Lighthouse which shows the oil house prior to its destruction in the 1944 hurricane
  • Bass River Light 100_6000
  • Bass River Light 100_6000
  • Bass River Light 100_6000
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