Notes:
(1) The Lighthouse marked a hazardous group of rocks known as Bishop and Clerks.

      Bishop and Clerks is a group of dangerous rocks 2-1/2 miles offshore from Point Gammon.  According to colonial records, the rocks are the remains of a five-acre island used for sheep grazing.  By 1750, the forces of tidal currents and winter storms submerged the island forming a dangerous shoal with a group of eight large rocks.  By 1791, the former island was charted as “Nantucket Shoals.”  Later, the largest rock was nicknamed “the Bishop” (the head rock) and the other rocks, his “Clerks.”

      In 1816, Point Gammon Lighthouse was built on Great Island to mark Bishop and Clerks.  Point Gammon Light was replaced by Lightship LV 4 in 1856 due to the increased navigation between Nantucket and Hyannis Harbor.  Two years earlier, Hyannis became an important commercial seaport delivering cargo from Nantucket to points on the mainland by freight train.

      In 1856, Congress appropriated funding for a Lighthouse on Bishop rock.  From 1856 to 1858, the construction of the Tower was another challenging project similar Minots Ledge Light south of Boston Harbor where the granite blocks were hewn on the mainland and transported to the site.  In 1858, the 53-feet high granite Tower was First Lit exhibiting a Flashing White light every 30 seconds illuminated by a Fourth-order Fresnel lens.


      A wooden Bell tower was built on the west side of the granite Lighthouse to house a Fog Bell operated by an automated striking mechanism.  The Keeper’s quarters were integral within the Lighthouse.  A Lighthouse tender delivered oil every six months and food and supplies every month.  John Peak, Point Gammon Lightkeeper since 1824, was appointed the first Lightkeeper of Bishop and Clerks Light.  The Keepers tended the Light by a rotating schedule of 20 days On Station and 10 days off.

      In 1886, Captain Charles H. Hinckley became the only other Head Keeper of the Lighthouse.  By the turn of the century, Lightkeeper Hinckley gained fame from numerous newspaper articles.  Charles H. Hinckley, who was 4-feet and 9-inches tall, was the shortest Lighthouse keeper in the United States Lighthouse Service and his assistant, W. F. Carney was over six-feet high.  In 1909, a magazine, Along the Coast, noted Keeper Hinckley called himself and his assistant the “long and short of the service.”

      In 1923, the Light was automated and the government decommissioned the Lighthouse in 1928 due to the gradual decline of navigation in Nantucket Sound after the Cape Cod Canal was opened in 1914.  The abandoned Lighthouse served as a Day beacon until 1952 (see Note 2).

(2) On September 11, 1952, the U.S. Coast Guard razed the condemned Lighthouse due to damage by a severe Storm of 1935 and vandalism caused the Tower with missing Granite blocks to tilt. ÝA 30-feet high pyramidal Skeleton Tower Day beacon with a Radar reflector was erected to mark the rocks.

      In 1998, Bishop and Clerks Daybeacon was replaced by a modern white and red cylindrical tower Light.  The new Bishop and Clerks Light, Aid No. 14490, exhibits a Flashing White light every 6 seconds, 45-feet above sea level visible to a range of 14 nautical miles.

      Although the modern Light may be viewed from the Ferry between Hyannis and Nantucket, it is not considered to be a scenic Lighthouse location.