Notes:
(1) Duxbury Pier Lighthouse was built to mark a hazardous shoal 0.75-miles offshore from Saquish Head and 2,110-feet northeast of the main shipping channel to Plymouth Harbor.


      As early as 1710, Plymouth was thriving fishing seaport due to abundance of fish in Cape Cod bay and the rich fishing grounds of Stellwagen Bank named after U.S. Navy hydrographer Captain Henry S. Stellwagen who first charted the region in 1854.  Stellwagen Bank, located six miles northeast of Provincetown to seven miles southeast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, is one of the largest natural fish habitats in the world.  From colonial times, Stellwagen Bank ground-fish has been a resource of food and wealth for the new developing nation.

      A primitive Light structure was erected on Gurnet Point in 1710 followed by America’s first twin-Lighthouse built in 1768 to mark the entrance to Plymouth Bay and Plymouth Harbor.  After one hundred years, a Lighthouse was needed to mark the dangerous shoal near the entrance of shipping channel to Plymouth Harbor for vessels approaching the channel without a harbor pilot.

      After constructing several costly and time-consuming underwater foundations for open sea Lighthouses, Civil Engineers designed a cost effective and quick method of erecting Lighthouses in shallow waters up to 30-feet using caisson foundations.  In comparison, Duxbury Pier Light required less than a year to build on site versus 7.7 years to build Race Rock Light.

      In 1871, a hollow cast-iron cylindrical shell was assembled on the mainland, floated to the Duxbury Pier site by barge, submerged to the seabed, and filled with concrete to provide a solid foundation for the construction of the cast-iron tower with integral Keeper’s quarters in three levels, a watchroom, and Lantern Room.  The 47-feet high Conical Cast iron Lighthouse was First Lit on September 15, 1871 exhibiting a Flashing Red light illuminated by a Fourth-order Fresnel lens and one oil lamp.


      At first, the Lighthouse was nicknamed “The Coffee Pot” due to its shape and later called a “Sparkplug” Light after the outside decks were constructed.  According to U.S. Coast Guard sources, Duxbury Pier Light is the first offshore cast iron caisson Lighthouse erected in the United States.  Locally, the Lighthouse was named a “Bug Light” or “The Bug” because at a distance the structure appeared broad and short resembling a beetle on the surface of the water.  In 1886, one hundred tons of rip-rap was placed around the Light Station to stabilize and protect the structure from ships, moving ice floes, scouring currents, and waves.

      In 1944, 30-feet high tidal surges from The Great Atlantic Hurricane of September 15, 1944 battered the isolated “Bug Light.”  The Tower survived the hurricane intact and sustained little damage according to Coast Guardsman Harry Salter, the Light keeper, who reported the boat, the fog bell mechanism, and the outhouse were destroyed by the heavy seas.

      In 1964, the Lighthouse was automated and the Fourth-order Fresnel lens was replaced by a modern optic.  For the next nineteen years, sea birds and vandalism severely damaged the historic Caisson Lighthouse.  In 1983, local residents organized Project Bug Light after the U.S. Coast Guard planned to replace the “Bug Light” by a fiberglass tower similar to the new Deer Island Light in Boston Harbor.  The Coast Guard plan would eliminate the $250,000 cost of renovating Duxbury Pier Light.


      The preservation group was assisted by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and State Senator Edward P. Kirby in influencing the Coast Guard to modify their plans and $100,000 was expended to repair, sandblast and paint the lower half of the Lighthouse from 1983 to 1985.  Project Bug Light leased Duxbury Pier Light for five years and raised $20,000 to rebuild the catwalk and roof, repair the interior, and convert the Light and Fog Signal to solar power.

      Project Bug Light essentially dissolved after the five-year lease expired and saving the “Bug Light.”  Shortly afterwards, vandals damaged the Lantern Room leaving it exposed to the elements and the weather destroyed the wood interior.  Again, the Coast Guard proposed replacing the Lighthouse by a fiberglass tower or removing the Lantern Room in 1993.

      Dr. Don Muirhead of Duxbury formed a new Project Bug Light to protect the Lighthouse and the Coast Guard renovated the Lantern Room in 1996.  The Coast Guard leased Plymouth Light to Project Bug Light in 1999 and the preservation organization was renamed Project Gurnet & Bug Lights, Inc. to convey the maintenance and preservation efforts of both Lighthouses on September 20, 2000.

(2) Duxbury Pier Light is best viewed by boat:

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