In 1808, both towers were blown over by a “whirlwind,” prompting Congress to approve $10,000 in February 17, 1809, for replacing the two lights. Franklin Carleton replaced Phineas George as keeper.īrutal weather posed a hazard for the lighthouse and its keepers. Upon the retirement of Keeper George in 1857, it was noted that he “by his faithful watchings day and night, in the coldest winter blasts, for vessels in distress, and by his superhuman efforts to save life and property in the cold of over twenty winters’ storms, to which his location is subjected, has entirely lost the use of his right arm, and can no longer work.” His wife was described as being “broken in health” by over-exertion in assisting him and raising their eleven children. ![]() His son Joseph Lowell assumed his duties and remained keeper until 1833, when Captain Phineas George was placed in charge of the light. On December 12, 1823, fifty-six-year-old Lewis Lowell, who had been appointed keeper in 1815 after the death of his father Abner, was overcome and died of asphyxiation after inhaling fumes from a charcoal fire he had lit under the lantern to keep the whale oil from congealing. In 1795, Abner received a salary increase from £66 to $266 (about £80) annually, because the light was rather isolated and the soil unfit for tilling. At night and during reduced visibility, an alarm gun provided by the Merrimack Humane Society was sounded to call for assistance. In addition to the range lights, a keeper’s dwelling was also built along with a signal house, where flags were raised to alert those on the mainland when a pilot was required or a ship was in distress. Keeper Lowell was a kindly man known by many as “Uncle,” and was the first of three generations of Lowells to man the lights. ![]() The merchants of Newburyport paid for the construction cost, which came to £266.Ī year after navigational aids fell under federal jurisdiction in 1789, President George Washington appointed Abner Lowell as keeper of Plum Island Range Lights, and it may be that Lowell had been keeping the lights since their inception. When these methods proved insufficient, the Massachusetts Assembly gave its approval on Novemfor the erection of two lighthouses, each with a fixed white light thirty-seven feet above sea level, on the north end of nine-mile-long “Plumb Island,” provided the sum “did not exceed £300 lawful money.” When first lit on April 14, 1788, the lights became the thirteenth lighthouse built in the United States, and were likely the country’s first set of range lights. Octagonal Plum Island Lighthouse replaced in 1898 Fires were routinely set on the beach at the northern end of Plum Island to guide mariners into the Merrimack River until 1783, when the Marine Society of Newburyport erected two official day beacons and employed men to display lanterns on them at night. Now just need to get the roof and hood wrapped in black to match the Scat Pack tail stripe.Plum Island is a barrier island that shadows the Massachusetts’ shore for roughly nine miles between the mouth of the Merrimack River on the north and the mouth of the Ipswich River on the south. And it’s mine now!Īnd yes, as can be seen in the lower right hand corner, I did take off the yellow splitter guards immediately after delivery. Hard to say “no” AND it was the last 2018 SPS in Plum Crazy in the state of Arizona. My new 2018 stickered for $3k *more* than my 2016 did, but I bought it for $2k *less* than I paid for the 2016. ![]() Always liked Billet Silver just fine, but I have always lamented missing out on the Plum Crazy (just always have had a thing for purple).Īnyway, locally here they are making some great deals on the remaining 2018s, so I decided to take another crack at getting myself a Plum Crazy. When I ordered the 2016 two-and-a-half years ago, I’d originally wanted it in Plum Crazy, but I’d missed the Plum Crazy order cutoff by a week! So instead I went with my second choice, which was Billet Silver. Traded in my 2016 SPS A8 in Billet Silver today on a brand new 2018 Plum Crazy SPS A8.
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