Watch Hill Lighthouse
Watch Hill Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Rhode Island, at a modelled elevation of 5 m. Chapman Hill stands 158 m to the north, 13 miles off. The nearest named place is Watch Hill Lighthouse Museum, a lighthouse less than a tenth of a mile away. State Routes 49 & 14A passes 8.1 miles off.
The story
The Watch Hill Lighthouse in Watch Hill, Rhode Island has served as a nautical beacon for ships since 1745, when the Rhode Island colonial government constructed a watchtower and beacon during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. The original structure was destroyed in a 1781 storm, and plans were discussed to build a new lighthouse to mark the eastern entrance to Fishers Island Sound and to warn mariners of a dangerous reef southwest of Watch Hill.
President Thomas Jefferson signed an act to build the lighthouse in 1806, and construction was completed in 1807. The first lighthouse stood 35 feet (11 m) tall. In 1827, a rotating light was installed to differentiate it from the Stonington Harbor Light in Connecticut. Erosion forced it to close in 1855 and move further away from the bluff edge. The next lighthouse opened in 1856 and remains as the present structure, standing 45 feet (14 m) tall. The steamer Metis crashed off Watch Hill in 1872, killing 130 people. In 1873, lighthouse keeper Captain Jared Starr Crandall was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for rescue operations involving the Metis. In 1879, Capt. Crandall's widow Sally Ann (Gavitt) Crandall became the first woman lighthouse keeper there. A United States Life-Saving Service station was built next to it where it operated until the 1940s, but it was destroyed in 1963. In 1907, the steamer Larchmont collided with a schooner, killing 200 people four miles from the lighthouse. The Hurricane of 1938 caused severe damage to the structure. The Leif Viking ran aground a few hundred feet from it in 1962; there were no injuries, although the ship was stranded for nine days. The light was automated in 1986 and leased to the Watch Hill Lightkeepers Association.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Dates from 1808.
Wikidata Q16902974, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Built
- 1856
- Height
- 19m
How to reach it
- 8.1 mi off the State Routes 49 & 14A
- 14.5 mi off the Shannock Road
- 16.7 mi off the Ministerial Road
- 22.3 mi off the North Fork Trail
Named places within 25 miles
- Bear Hill: 0.4 mi
- Staunton Hill: 3.2 mi
- Mount Pleasant: 3.2 mi
- Pawcatuck Rock: 3.3 mi
- Wequetequock Hill: 3.8 mi
- Jonathan Foster Ground: 0.7 mi
- 1814 Memorial: 2.9 mi
- Cannon Square: 3.1 mi
- Borough Hall: 3.2 mi
- Babcock-Smith House Museum: 5.1 mi
- John and Caroline Enright Preserve (Avalonia Land Conservancy): 2.4 mi
- Parker Brothers Preserve: 2.6 mi
- Dodge Paddock / Beal Preserve: 3.1 mi
- Cutler Street Open Space: 3.4 mi
- Pawcatuck River State Wildlife Management Area: 3.4 mi
- Barn Island Boat Launch: 2.5 mi
- Barn Island Hunting Area: 2.8 mi
- Cannon Square: 3.1 mi
- Wadawanuck Square (Borough Open Space): 3.3 mi
- Rotary Park: 3.7 mi
- Ocean House Beach: 0.5 mi
- DuBois Beach: 3.0 mi
- South Beach: 4.7 mi
- South Beach: 4.8 mi
- Chocomount Beach: 5.8 mi
- Old Lighthouse Museum: 3.0 mi
- Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House: 3.7 mi
- Westerly Armory: 5.6 mi
- Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center: 6.1 mi
- Denison Homestead: 6.2 mi
- Ninigret Statue: 0.5 mi
- Penguin: 6.8 mi
- Mystic Blue: 6.8 mi
- John Kelley Statue: 6.8 mi
- Mjolnir: 7.0 mi
- Watch Hill Carousel: 0.4 mi
- This Old House Westerly House: 2.6 mi
- Platt-Lords View-Stillman Marshes: 4.4 mi
- Large Glacial Erratic: 5.1 mi
- Hellcat Propeller: 11.1 mi
- Grow and Go Seek Community Garden: 5.7 mi
- Sensory Garden: 13.0 mi
- East Garden: 13.2 mi
- Cutting Garden: 13.2 mi
- West Garden: 13.2 mi
- Watch Hill Lighthouse Museum: 0.0 mi
- Fog Signal Building: 0.0 mi
- Oil Shed: 0.0 mi
- Southeast Lighthouse: 19.0 mi
- Block Island Southeast Light: 19.0 mi
- Cascade: 9.0 mi
- Cascade: 9.1 mi
- Yantic Falls: 19.9 mi
- Silver Falls: 20.1 mi
- Stepstone Falls: 21.9 mi
- Clay Head: 16.9 mi
- Mohegan Bluffs: 18.2 mi
- Crow Head: 20.2 mi
- Rattlesnake Ledge: 24.2 mi
- Acabonack Cliff: 24.4 mi
- Rest Area I-95 (North Bound): 7.4 mi
- Rest Area I-395 (South Bound): 17.8 mi
- Rest Area I-95 (South Bound): 20.1 mi
- Rest Area I-95 (North Bound): 20.2 mi
- Picnic Pavilion: 11.0 mi
- Little Nini Pavillion: 11.1 mi
- Powder House: 13.8 mi
- Skate Hut: 13.9 mi
- Old Spring: 10.5 mi
- Factory Pond: 14.7 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 13.9 miles of Watch Hill Lighthouse. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapman Hill | N 359° | 158 m | 13.1 mi |
| Barns Hill | NNW 347° | 155 m | 13.5 mi |
| Pendleton Hill | N 3° | 153 m | 13.8 mi |
| Stewart Hill | N 354° | 149 m | 12.1 mi |
| Ayer Hill | NNW 337° | 144 m | 13.4 mi |
| Wintechog Hill | NNW 342° | 139 m | 11.4 mi |
| Cossaduck Hill | N 349° | 139 m | 11.8 mi |
| Swantown Hill | NNW 344° | 132 m | 12.3 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 06:52 | 18:23 | 19:00 |
| June solstice | 05:15 | 19:43 | 20:25 |
| September equinox | 06:36 | 18:10 | 18:47 |
| December solstice | 07:11 | 15:38 | 16:22 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 32 | 33 | 40 | 49 | 58 | 67 | 74 | 72 | 66 | 55 | 46 | 38 |
| Precip in | 3.3 | 2.7 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Westerly State AP, 4 mi away.
The nearest NOAA station publishes daily tide predictions.
NOAA CO-OPS station Watch Hill Point, RI, under a mileaway — today’s predictions live there.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
National Register of Historic Places, reference 85001948OpenStreetMapWikidataOpenStreetMap element way/481348003
Day trips start here
- Watch Hill · 1 mi
- Stonington · 5 mi
- Westerly · 5 mi
- Mystic · 7 mi
- Ashaway · 9 mi
- Groton · 9 mi
Take the scenic way to Watch Hill Lighthouse.
Byway plans around your taste, verified places, real weather and opening hours — then opens every leg in Google Maps with one tap.