Burnt Coat Harbor Light, Swan's Island

The Town of Swan’s Island and the Friends of the Swan’s Island Lighthouse completed their joint restoration of the Burnt Coat Harbor Light on the island’s Hockamock Head. The navigation aid had been automated and the station abandoned, until the town acquired the property in 1994. The subsequent 15-year, $900,000 restoration revived the light tower and keeper’s house from 1872, oil house from 1895, and bell house from 1911, carefully matching historic materials and dimensions: quarter-sawn wood siding, lime-based cements, and precision-turned catwalk stanchions. The site is open for public tours, with the keeper’s house apartment available as a short-term vacation rental. In the process, the project brought together the local and summer communities on the island to honor local history and maritime traditions, and created a common focal point for the twenty-first century. This achievement will be celebrated along with the sesquicentennial of the lighthouse in August of this year!