>> Click to enlarge << Minot's Ledge Lighthouse when it was still a ...

One of America's most notorious lighthouses has been declared excess property and has been offered up for adoption.

>> Click to enlarge << Minot's Ledge Lighthouse sits today void of human ...

Known as the “I Love You” lighthouse because of its flash sequence the 114-foot tall tower is considered one of the top ten engineering feats of the old United States Lighthouse Service.

The tower was built in 1850 in the wind swept waters off the communities of Cohasset and Scituate, Massachusetts to replace an earlier tower that was toppled in a storm, killing two of its keepers.

Hundreds of photographs have been published of waves crashing over the tower. Keeper's who lived here had an isolated and dangerous life. The lighthouse that sits on a 25-foot ledge of rock can only be entered by climbing a 30-foot ladder straight up.

Milton Ramey served as the keeper of Minot's Ledge from 1887 to 1915. A newspaper article in October, 1902, said, “Capt. Milton Reamy, who has charge of the lighthouse on Minot's Ledge draws a larger salary ($1000.00 a year) than any other keeper on the New England coast.”

Letters of interest were required to be submitted by September 30. At press time the town of Cohasset, Massachusetts was considering submitting their letter. However, when the next deadline approaches it will be interesting to see who actually submits an application for ownership. If no entity submits an application the lighthouse would be offered to anyone at auction.

However, in the meantime, a representative from the Cohasset Historical Society suggested that because of the special historical and engineering circumstances surrounding the lighthouse they contact their federal Congressman and Senator to take Minot's Ledge Lighthouse off the list of lighthouses offered up for adoption and keep it a federally owned lighthouse.

This story appeared in the October 2009 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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