Local citizens petitioned the town’s selectmen for a lighthouse in 1807. The selectmen convinced the federal government to appropriate $4,000 in 1810 for the building of a lighthouse at the harbor entrance at Cedar Point. Three men from the nearby town of Hingham built the lighthouse, finishing it in September 1811, two months ahead of schedule. The 25-foot-tall stone tower was accompanied by a one-and-a-half-story keeper’s house, an oil vault, and a well.
The Boston Marine Society was concerned that the new light be easy to differentiate from other lights in Boston Bay. In October 1811, a committee of the society met to discuss the situation with the local lighthouse superintendent. They asked that the light not be put into service until the following March, after sufficient discussion of its characteristic. The society recommended that an eclipser be installed to create a flashing light. Instead, Scituate Light went into service as a fixed white light in April 1812.
The first keeper was Simeon Bates, who stayed at the station until his death in 1834. Bates and his wife, Rachel, had nine children, including two daughters, Rebecca and Abigail. These two sisters would become heroic figures in the history of American lighthouses.
During the War of 1812, British warships frequently raided New England coastal towns. On June 11, 1814, British forces plundered and burned a number of vessels at Scituate. Keeper Bates fired two shots from a small cannon, angering the captain of a British warship as it departed.
Less than three months later, Keeper Bates and most of his family were away, leaving 21-year-old Rebecca and 15-year-old (or, according to some accounts, 17-year-old) Abigail in charge. The sisters were horrified to see a British warship anchored in the harbor. In a magazine article many years later, Rebecca was quoted:
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” says I to my sister, “Look here, you take the drum and I’ll take the fife.” I was fond of military music and could play four tunes on the fife — Yankee Doodle was my masterpiece. . . . “What good’ll that do?” says she. “Scare them,” says I. “All you’ve got to do is call the roll. I’ll scream the fife and we must keep out of sight; if they see us they’ll laugh us to scorn.”
There is more to the story of this lighthouse here: http://ift.tt/1M4srCQ
Yes, the sky was that blue! Have a wonderful week dear friends! Warm regards, Ron đŸ˜‰
Sig Nordal 