![]() Lighthouse topped by a second lantern room This improved plan did come at a price, namely $200,000, which was quite the sum for that time. First, the pier would be of greater diameter and thus be more capable of resisting the pressure of storm waves and pack ice, and second, the keepers would always be at hand to attend to their duties and not located nearly a mile away on Fishers Island. This plan had two advantages over the original. The Lighthouse Board came up with a new design that called for a granite pier topped by a two-story, octagonal, granite keeper’s dwelling and a lantern. The prior soundings were found to be inadequate as the new apparatus determined that the area upon which the tower was to be constructed was made up of not just one giant rock but an aggregation of boulders smaller in size than Race Rock itself, which made the use of a cofferdam to construct the foundation impractical. However, due to the difficulty of the proposed construction it was thought prudent to make a more careful examination of the site and to this end, an “apparatus” was contrived to provide more reliable soundings. Plans for a granite tower for the rock were adopted by the Lighthouse Board based on soundings made with an iron rod from a vessel trying to navigate in the strong currents surrounding the rock. Records indicate that this day-beacon was completed in 1856, but it was “thrown down” in 1863 and then temporarily replaced by a first-class iron buoy.Ī lighted aid was deemed necessary to mark the rock, and on Ja sum of $90,000 was allocated for the erection of lighthouse on Race Rock or on the southwest end of Fishers Island. As the rock would not permit a structure of much lateral magnitude, a “beacon” with a central shaft of iron, sunk four feet into the rock and topped with a globular iron cage at a height of twenty feet above high water, was recommended. ![]() The Board requested $7,000 to mark Race Rock with “some material which will resist the action of the sea and ice,” and Congress granted this amount on March 3, 1853.Īn examination of Race Rock was made in 1854 to determine “its character and the proper plan to be adopted in the erection of a beacon thereon.” The rock was found to be a large boulder, about 200 feet in diameter that rested upon a rocky ledge and was covered with just five feet of water at low tide. Buoys would often be swept away by the strong currents, and spindles, two of which had been sunk eighteen inches into the rock, would only last until the breaking up of ice the following spring. In 1852, the Lighthouse Board noted that Race Rock was “one of the most dangerous obstructions to navigation on the coast,” and that various efforts had “been made, and numerous appropriations expended, in endeavoring to place an efficient and permanent mark” near the location. There, the current can reach five knots, which contributed to the stranding of eight vessels during an eight-year period in the early 1800s. The deepest of these openings, known as “The Race,” is just off the western end of Fisher Island near Race Rock. Numerous vessels pass through the gaps in the islands, as well as a large volume of water as the tide ebbs and flows. The berm remains off limits to foot traffic, while our plantings take hold.At the eastern end of Long Island Sound, a string of islands, Fishers, Little Gull, Great Gull, and Plum, span most of the distance between Orient Point on Long Island and Watch Hill in Rhode Island. berm, as it winds west from behind the Coast Guard Station to the Ordnance Building. We can all see the results taking hold today over the entire 1200-ft. The Conservancy Board was excited about the opportunity and offered to recommend, source and sponsor the planting of native grasses. ![]() FIFD Management sought the advice of FIConservancy. Ideas about how best to plant the berm in order to stabilize and beautify it were tossed about. FIFD used the majority of that sand to create a covered and graded berm between the high tide line and the rear parking area. This past winter, the Fishers Island Ferry District (FIFD) dredged the entrance channel to Silver Eel Cove yielding over 2500 cubic yards of clean sand. The following letter of thanks and appreciation from the Ferry District was published in the June 2022 Fog Horn: The Fishers Island Conservancy is pleased to have been a part of the Fishers Island Ferry District’s new berm project at Silver Eel Cove. FIFerry District berm, (l) heading west away from ferry entrance and (r) heading east toward Silver Eel Cove. ![]()
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