| National Park Service |
|
| Lighthouse Construction Types | |
|
Back
to Contents Page Back to Lighthouse Heritage |
|
A relatively recent technological development in lighthouse construction was the Texas tower lighthouse type which replaced exposed lightships offshore. These so-called Texas towers were adaptations modeled on the offshore oil drilling platforms first employed off the Texas coast. The first Texas tower lighthouse type in the United States was the Buzzards Bay Light, located in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, and commissioned on November 1, 1961. (It has been extinguished and may be dismantled.) A total of six Texas tower lighthouses have been constructed; the four which survive are listed below. (Both the Ambrose, NY, and Savannah, GA, towers no longer survive.) All are primarily made of steel. BUZZARDS BAY ENTRANCE LIGHT, MA (1961) FRYING PAN SHOALS LIGHT, NC (1964) CHESAPEAKE LIGHT, VA (1965) DIAMOND SHOAL LIGHT, NC (1966) | |
 |
 |
