New Bedford, Massachusetts
The island got its name from one of the first settlers of Dartmouth, William Palmer. Like Boston Harbor's Deer Island, Palmer's Island was used as an internment camp for Indians during King Philip's War in 1675-76. Among the prisoners on the island were the wife and son of Philip, alias Pometacom. Most of these Indians were later sold into slavery in the West Indies. New Bedford was the whaling capital of the nation in the mid-nineteenth century. The whaling industry reached its peak in the 1850s when New Bedford had a fleet of 239 ships.
In his 1843 survey of the lighthouses along the coast, inspector I.W.P. Lewis pointed out the need for a lighthouse on Palmer's Island:
"This island lies directly within the entrance to New Bedford Harbor. A single lamp beacon place upon it would add materially to the facilities requires on entering this important harbor."
Palmer Island Light with its first "birdcage" style lantern room (U.S. Coast Guard)
The lighthouse on the northern point of Palmer's Island was first lighted on August 30, 1849 by William Sherman (sometimes spelled Shearman), the first keeper. The 24-foot tower was built of rubblestone, with wooden windows and floors. A walkway connected the lighthouse to the higher part of the island.
An 1850 inspection reported:
"Tower of the light-house built of stone, and tight; dwelling is of wood and somewhat leaky; lantern is a good one, and the whole taken together is a fair piece of work... Found the apparatus clean; but the dome of the lantern, whih was painted white, was just as black as could be -- casued by burning Mr. Rodman's lamp with whale oil. Swelling is too small and needs a porch."
In 1858 Joseph B.C. Tuell was born at the lighthouse to Keeper Charles D. Tuell and his wife. When Joseph Tuell died in 1935 his ashes were spread over the island from an airplane.
In the 1860s a hotel and dance hall were built on the southern side of Palmer's Island, and visitors came by steamer from New Bedford. The hotel became a favorite stop for returning whalers, and predictably illegal activity became rampant. The hotel closed about 1890 and an amusement park was built. This park failed after a few years, and the hotel burned down in 1905.
After another restoration in 1989, the lighthouse soon fell victim to more vandalism. It remained dark through most of the 1990s.
A 1989 restoration
In April 1999 Hillary Rodham Clinton named New Bedford an official Millennium Community of the White House Millenium Council. The national theme of the Millennium Council is to "Honor the Past and Imagine the Future." It was decided that restoring and relighting Palmer's Island Lighthouse would be one of the city's Millennium projects. Arthur P. Motta, Jr., the city's Director of Tourism and Marketing, was also an important force in the restoration effort. The badly damaged lantern room was removed on July 20, 1999, and taken to the city's wastewater division. Welder Jose Pereira rebuilt the lantern, while preserving the original metal frame. The four-foot-high, seven-foot-diameter lantern was reinstalled on August 25. The tower was repainted by a crew provided by the Bristol County Sheriff Department's Pre-Release Program, under the direction of volunteer Peter Duff. A new solar-powered beacon was installed, with a 250mm clear acrylic lens. The light now has a signature of two seconds on, six seconds off, and is visible for eight nautical miles. The new lighting apparatus was paid for with donated funds.
A large crowd gathered on the State Pier on the pleasant evening of August 30, 1999, to witness the relighting of Palmer's Island Light, 150 years almost to the minute after its first lighting in 1849. Anne Blum Brengle, Director of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society and New Bedford Whaling Museum, recounted the drama and tragedy of Palmer's Island's history.
In a dramatic tribute to the city's past as the whaling capital of the nation, three crews from the Whaling City Rowing Club took part in the relighting ceremony. Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz, Jr., handed out lighted oil lanterns to the crews on board the whaleboats Herman Melville, Flying Fish, and Skylark. The three boats made their way to the island. As the crowd watched quietly, Mayor Kalisz waved another lantern in the air and the lighthouse soon began to flash.
One of the whaleboats in the relighting ceremony
"This shall be remembered by the citizens of New Bedford as the day they reaffirmed their ties to the sea, and indeed, to the world," said Mayor Kalisz in a proclamation that is on display at the lighthouse and in City Hall.
Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz at the relighting ceremony
Much attention is being focused on New Bedford's waterfront along the Acushnet River. The relighting of Palmer's Island Light followed 1998's restoration and relighting of Butler Flats Light farther out in New Bedford Harbor. The city's historic Fort Rodman, along with Clark's Point Lighthouse, is being restored as a public park. The Lightship New Bedford also has a home on the waterfront and is slated for restoration, and a new aquarium is in the planning stages.
Palmer's Island is accessible at low tide from New Bedford's hurricane wall. The lighthouse can be seen from the New Bedford Whaling Museum and other spots on shore, and the ferry to Cuttyhunk Island passes the island, as does a harbor tour offered daily in season.