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Billingsgate Light is usually described as the Atlantis of
Cape Cod. At its height, Billingsgate Island had 30 homes
and its own school. The island was described by the Pilgrims
in 1620 as "an island of 60 acres southwest of Wellfleet"
(Clark p. 50), and due south of Jeremy
Point. The island no longer exists - a victim of the
ever-changing boundaries of the Cape.
Since the area was an excellent location for fishermen, a
fourteen-foot lighthouse on a granite foundation was built at
the island in 1822. In 1858, a new lighthouse was built,
similar in design to the previous structure. Over this
period, the island was clearly disappearing due to erosion.
The keeper's existence became increasingly isolated as the
sea crept in and the families left. Keeper Herman Dill
reported the tide "made a clean sweep through inside...there
was three to five feet of water." (Clark, p. 53) In 1888,
the lighthouse was so threatened from the sea that 1000 feet
of bulkheads and jetties were built around the lighthouse.
By 1915, the only occupants of the island were the keeper and
a watchman who guarded the Wellfleet oyster bed. The lamp
was removed in 1915, and placed on a beacon nearby. The
beacon was continued until 1922. The island itself
completely vanished by 1942. Only a shoal marked by a buoy
remains today. The shoal remains a popular fishing area.
(Interestingly, the AAA Connecticut
Massachusetts Rhode Island map from 1992-1993, which we used
for our travels, still shows Billingsgate Island less than a
mile south of the tip of Jeremy Point!)
Lighthouses of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket - Their History and Lore, Clark pp. 50-55
The Lighthouses of New England, Snow pp. 244-245
Massachusetts Lighthouses - A Pictorial Guide, Thompson pp. 110
Lighthouses and Life Saving Stations Along the Massachusetts Coast, Claflin pp. 73
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