This month our virtual display case features an account of expenses for Truro Lighthouse - a fitting item since August 7 is National Lighthouse Day! The expense sheet is part of the Alexander Parris Papers, and dates to May 23, 1840.
Truro Lighthouse is more familiarly known as Highland Light, and is located in Truro, Cape Cod. It was originally built as a wooden structure in 1797, but was replaced with a brick structure in 1833. In 1840, the lighthouse received a new lighting apparatus. This expense report, which dates to the same year, documents the cost for castings of a lantern, chandelier, deck, staircase, furnace, and door - totaling $2,377.98. An addendum to the expense sheet also lists the cost of a variety of sizes of lamps and reflectors for the new lighting apparatus. In 1857, the lighthouse was demolished and replaced by the brick structure that remains in use today. However, the current lighthouse is not in the same location as the original. Due to beach erosion, Highland Light was moved 450 feet to the west in 1996.
This account of expenses for Truro Light is just one of many items in the Alexander Parris Papers that relates to the construction and maintenance of lighthouses. Parris (1780-1852) was a prominent architect and engineer in the early to mid-1800s and was responsible for many notable buildings, including Quincy Market in Boston and Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth. Later in his career, his focus shifted away from commercial and residential design and towards projects for the federal government. Among those was the design of a number of lighthouses located up and down the northeastern coastline as part of the nation’s Lighthouse Service. The collection of papers at the State Library dates from 1823 through 1851 and focuses primarily on the engineering work that Parris did for the United States Navy. It consists of correspondence, financial records, and professional and legal documents. A finding aid to the collection can be found here and digitized items from the collection can be viewed on DSpace. To see all of the items related to Parris’ work on lighthouses, select “search within the collection” and use “lighthouse” as your keyword term. And for a closer look at our featured document, click on the image above or this link.
Highland Light in Truro, Cape Cod, 2019
In New England, every day is a good day to celebrate a lighthouse! But according to the American Lighthouse Foundation, August 7 was designated by Congress as National Lighthouse Day in 1989. This was done in honor of the 200th anniversary of the signing of an act for the establishment and support of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers. Learn more about National Lighthouse Day and read the text of the original act on the ALF website.
Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian
