Wing's Neck Lighthouse
The Wing's Neck Lighthouse is located in the Pocasset section of Bourne at the very end of the Wing's Neck peninsula that overlooks Buzzards Bay at the western end of the Cape Cod Canal.
The original lighthouse here had been built in 1849. For many years, mariners had asked for a lighthouse in the area, and when the Wing's Neck lighthouse was built, it was an important navigation aid for the inlets along Buzzards Bay. Unfortunately, the lighthouse was constructed entirely of wood, and the weight of the lantern area on the wood tower caused damage to the tower. A fire also happened at Wing's Neck, and thus the lighthouse was severly damaged in 1878. The new and current lighthouse was built in 1889 to replace the original structure, and a few years later, the tower was connected to the lighthouse keeper's house. These small "hallways" allowed the lighthouse keeper to get access to the tower directly from his home during the night or during bad weather.
The lighthouse itself is an octagonal wood tower with mahogany stairs inside the tower up to the lantern area. When the Cape Cod Canal was built and first opened in 1914, the lighthouse assumed an even more important role on Buzzards Bay, guiding traffic into and out of the Canal. The original whale oil light was replaced with an oil-based light, and the fresnel lens was enlarged, providing a 2900 candlepower light at the time. A large fog-horn was also established at that time.
The construction off the nearby Cleveland Ledge lighthouse in the 1940's meant that the Wing's Neck Lighthouse was no longer needed, and the lighthouse passed at that time into private ownership. If you would like to live in a lighthouse, Wing's Neck is still used today as a private vacation property. Check it out!
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