Notes:
(1) Two Ipswich Range Lights were built on Castle Neck to mark the entrance to Ipswich Harbor.

      As early 1616, London companies caught large quantities of sturgeon for the European market when Ipswich was a Indian village called Agawam due to the abundance of anadromous* fishing.

      In 1633, John Winthrop, Jr, son of Governor John Winthrop, established a settlement at Ipswich.  A fishing stage (wharf) was built on Little Neck at the mouth of the Ipswich River in 1641.  Fisheries, necessary for survival, required little capital and returned large profits.  Beginning in 1789, a 1,000 barrels of clams were sold annually to Boston and the shellfish industry has been economically vital to Ipswich ever since.  Since the 1930s, Ipswich clams have been popular along the East Coast.

      Due to the thriving fishing industry and coastal trading, the busy shallow waters surrounding Ipswich caused numerous shipwrecks.  On August 20, 1772, Ipswich commoners paid 20 pounds to William Dodge “to erect suitable landmarks for the benefit of vessels bound in and out.”

      In 1837, Congress appropriated $7,000 for two Range Lighthouses to be constructed on Castle Neck in Ipswich, to mark the safe channel to Ipswich Harbor.  Both Range Lights were completed and First Lit in 1838 exhibiting Fixed White lights.  The Rear Range Light was later changed to a Fixed white varied by a white flash every 90-seconds.  The Front Range Light, “Bug Light,” was a White shingled wooden Tower and the Rear Range Light was a White Conical wooden Tower with a “bird cage” style Lantern Room.


The taller Rear Range Light marked the location of Ipswich Bay along the coast.  After mariners determined their position, the “Bug Light” was aligned with the Rear Range Light to guide them into the harbor at the mouth of the Ipswich River.

      During the Great Storm of December 14-16, 1839, the schooner, Deposit, from Belfast, Maine ran aground on Lakeman’s beach (currently called Crane Beach) near the Ipswich Range Lights.  Four were lost including Captain Cotterel, two men reached the shore on some of the wreckage, and the captain’s wife was rescued by Light Keeper Greenwood.

      By 1843, the Range Lights did not direct mariners into the Ipswich River according to a inspection by I.W.P. Lewis, Engineer to the U.S. Light-house Survey, who noted the channel had shifted.  Over the next 40-years, the “Bug Light ” was relocated nine times as the channel shifted.  His report also noted the improper construction of both towers.  The Light Keeper reported both towers and the Keeper’s house leaked.

      In 1881, the Rear Range Light was replaced by a 30-feet high White Conical Cast Iron Tower after a 1877 report noted the original tower was severely cracked.


The Front Range Light was rebuilt several times with different Day-marks.  A 11-feet high White shingled Pyramidal Tower was the last Front Range Tower.  The drifting sand dunes and tidal action have drastically shifted the coastline of Crane Beach as noted by the Light Station was originally located about 82-feet from the shore yet in 1911, the same location was 1,090-feet from the water’s edge.  At times, the shifting dunes covered the door of the the Rear Lighthouse forcing Keepers to enter the window of the Tower to tend the Light.

      In 1932, the Front Range Light was deactivated and the Rear Range Light was automated on November 12, 1932.  In 1939, Ipswich Light (formerly the Rear Tower) was transported by barge to Edgartown Harbor, Martha’s Vineyard to replace the Edgartown Lighthouse which was severely damaged by the Hurricane of 1938.  Ipswich Light was replaced by a skeleton tower.

      Since 1945, Crane Beach has been a Reservation that protects the splendid sandy white beaches, shifting dunes, and old maritime forests.  Crane Beach is one of New England’s most picturesque beaches with 5.5-miles of trails.  Recreational activities from fishing and Horseback riding to swimming attract thousands of visitors who most likely never knew a Lighthouse Station once existed on the drifting dunes of Crane Beach.  If you plan to visit Crane Beach for recreation and the scenic vistas, there is an Admission Fee.  Parking for the beach is at the end of Argilla Road.

*Anadromous fishes (like Alewives, shad and salmon found in the Ipswich River during colonial and early America) spawn in freshwater streams, migrate to the sea to grow to maturity, and then return to their “home” river to spawn.

(2) The original Characteristic was FW [Fixed White].

(3) In 1939, the Rear Range Lighthouse was moved to Edgartown, Marthas Vineyard and replaced by NR on skeleton tower.

Aid No. 9315/J0266 at Position: N 42° 41.1', W 70° 46.0'

(4) Photograph of the Front Range Light is from the photo collection of Jim Danforth, the great-great grandson of Thomas Smith Greenwood, courtesy of Karen Danforth.

The photograph was originally in a collection of photographs saved by Jim Danforth's great-grandmother, Pauline Greenwood Maynard Farley, who was the daughter of the first Light-house keeper, Thomas Smith Greenwood.