Lynde Point Lighthouse

Lights
hurricanes
and
Katharine
The Connecticut River is a huge and impressive river but the towns on the mouth never really developed into the large trading communities that you would expect. The main reason for this is because of the treacherous and ever shifting sandbars that guard the mouth of the river.
The problem was recognized as soon as the first ships started sailing the area and in 1773 a public lottery was held to get funds to place some buoys out there. Lotteries were a common way of collecting money for building projects back then.
The buoys were better than nothing but it was soon realized that better solution had to be found. So in 1803 a 35 foot tower was constructed. It was better than nothing but not by much.
So in 1838 a 65 foot tower made from brownstone blocks was built. It received a 4^th order Fresnel lens in 1852 that could be seen for 13 miles out to sea. The light finally became animated in 1975 and is still an active aid to navigation.
The lighthouse was put to the test in Sept of 1938 when a massive hurricane tore into this area. The light was damaged but stayed together. Unfortunately much of the Connecticut shoreline wasn’t so lucky.
The famous actress Katharine Hepburn had her house right down the street from the lighthouse and was almost washed allowed but just managed to get out.
The lighthouse is located in a very exclusive part of town and is very off limits to the pubic. It can be seen from the water and remains a very important part of the state’s nautical history.