{"nrhp_refnum":"87001487","name":"Straightsmouth Island Light","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Straightsmouth Island","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rockport","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.65861419700008,"lon":-70.58559913099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-06-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation","Architecture","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A lighthouse complex on Straightsmouth Island, southeast of the entrance to Rockport Harbor in Rockport, Essex County, Massachusetts, built in 1835 with a brick tower, keeper's house and oil house.","why_significant":"The complex is argued to retain integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship and to be linked with the development of aids to navigation in Massachusetts. It is an early 1830s lighthouse complex preserving unusual elements such as the Gothic Revival trim of the keeper's house and the granite piers of the original walkway. It meets criteria A and C at the state level.","narrative":"Straightsmouth Island, southeast of the entrance to Rockport Harbor, holds a lighthouse complex dating from 1835. A white brick tower with an octagonal cast iron lens room and attached gabled entry sits on a base of granite blocks. Nearby are a brick oil house, two small outbuildings, and a one-and-a-half-story wood frame keeper's house with a cross-gabled plan, Gothic window hoods and elaborate porch ornament. A line of granite posts marks the covered walkway that once linked house and tower. The federal government bought the land in 1834, and the light was later automated and converted to solar power in 1985. The Coast Guard kept the tower while the island became a Massachusetts Audubon sanctuary. The complex was listed as an early example of a lighthouse station that preserves many distinctive original elements, including the Gothic Revival keeper's house and walkway piers, and for its link to the growth of navigation aids in Massachusetts.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic Revival keeper's house with Italianate trim","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Tower is unmanned and active, converted to solar power in 1985; keeper's house interior is not accessible with windows boarded; outbuildings are in poor condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.06104-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/22/7902/63790222/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/87001487.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790222","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straitsmouth_Island_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7621171"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/straightsmouth-island-light-87001487/"}