Notes:
(1) Annisquam Harbor Lighthouse was built to mark the entrance to Annisquam Harbor and Annisquam River.

      According to tradition, settlers from Salem landed at Annisquam in 1630 or 1631, erected a fishing stage or wharf, and began fishing the Ipswich Bay.  In 1643, Pastor Blynman cut a ditch through the isthmus, known as the Blynman Canal to connect Ipswich Bay to Gloucester harbor in order to save time sailing around Cape Ann as well as transporting wood to the harbor for shipbuilding.  For 100 years, storms would fill the canal with sand and the Gloucester railroad branch closed the canal from 1848 to 1868.  The canal was reopened for transporting granite from the new Wolf Hill quarry.  The easiest and fastest way to travel and transport commerce between the fishing villages of Cape Ann was by boat.

      During the American Revolution, the fishing industry decreased to local home consumption.  By 1800, foreign commerce became profitable as the fishing industry slowly recovered.  In response, the federal government awarded a contract to Winslow Lewis, who constructed a 32-feet high wood-framed Tower and Keeper’s house on Wigwam Point in 1801 to warn mariners of the hazardous Squam Bar and safely guide the expanding maritime commerce into the Annisquam Harbor and River.  The Annisquam River* is a 1.9 Square Mile Bay and Estuary connected to Gloucester’s Western Harbor by the Blynman Canal.  According to custom, Annisquam is derived from the Indian word, “squam” which means harbor or mouth of a river, and the word, “Annis” recognizes Charles Annis from Ireland who settled the area and built his home on the Annisquam River.  As late as 1850, Nautical charts, entitled “Harbour of Annis Squam in Ipswich Bay,” still identified the town of Annis Squam.

      The Light Station was the first Lighthouse built on Cape Ann peninsula and has been called the Squam Light and the Wigwam Point Light in the past.  Wigwam Point Light was First Lit on March 23, 1801 and exhibited a Fixed White light 40-feet above sea level illuminated by six oil lamps and reflectors visible to range of 9-miles in clear weather.

      I.W.P. Lewis, Civil Engineer to the U.S. Light-house Survey and nephew of Winslow Lewis, noted that Annisquam Light was a local beacon thoroughly useful to Cape Ann fishermen in 1843 yet the wood-frame Tower was completely rotten and unsafe.  I.W.P. Lewis inspection reported “one lamp of proper form alone is required here” instead of the six Lewis Patent Lamps in use and he recommended building a new Tower.  In 1851, a new 40-feet high wooden octagonal Tower was constructed and the original optic was refitted with a Fifth-order Fresnel lens rotated by a clockwork mechanism in 1856.

      In 1897, the present 45-feet high Federal-style white cylindrical brick Tower was built.  In 1922, the Fifth-order Fresnel lens illuminated by kerosene was removed and refitted with a Fourth-order Fresnel lens illuminated by electric light that increased the brightness from 1,300 candlepower to 250,000 candlepower.

      The first fog horn was installed in 1931 and the signal was active from October 15 through May 15 every year until 1949 to allow restful nights for summer residents.  Summer days were added to the operation of the fog signal in 1949.

      The Lighthouse was automated in 1974 and the fog signal was activated by a switch installed at the local police station in January 1975. Currently, the automated electronic fog signal is activated by a fog sensor.

*The Annisquam River estuary is the northern entrance to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.  The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, completed in 1939, is a system of inland navigable channels that include rivers, bays, and canals along the Atlantic coast of the United States from the Annisquam River estuary, Cape Ann, Massachusetts to Key West, Florida.  The Intracoastal Waterway provides protected passage to shipping and pleasure boating along the east coast.

(2) The Red Sector’s 37 degree arc warns mariners of Davis Neck and the dangerous shoals offshore from Wigwam Point.  A safe 6-feet deep by 200-feet wide entrance channel to the Annisquam River is located to the right of the red sector (218 degrees).

(3) Directions from Rt 127:
      At the Annisquam Village Church, turn onto Leonard Street and turn right onto Elizabeth Road.  After Elizabeth Road, the roads may be not be marked yet there are signs pointing the way to Lighthouse Road.  The light station is at the end of Lighthouse Road.  There was limited parking for 2 cars when we visited the Lighthouse in 1999.  Note that the Keeper’s House and grounds are private property for a Coast Guard family.  The Lighthouse can be viewed from the parking area and a small rocky beach nearby.


Annisquam Harbor Lighthouse can also be viewed by private boat or by a Lighthouse cruise provided by several Cruise companies:

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Annisquam Harbor Light Wallpaper View of the Lighthouse from the small rocky beach at Wigwam Point. Photo highlights Annisquam Harbor Light yet there are sensational Scenic Views of the coastline and the Lighthouse from Wingaersheek Beach or a Lighthouse cruise.

Annisquam Lighthouse at Cape Ann Art Print
by Richard Cummins

US Coast Guard Station Gloucester