The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The state of Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous of the New England states in the northeast of the country. Its capital city of Boston, founded in 1630, is the leading port of the region. A small state with a long coastline and many harbors, Massachusetts has a large number of lighthouses and requires two pages in the Directory. This page lists the lighthouses of the northern part of the state, including Newburyport, the Cape Ann area, Massachusetts Bay and Boston Harbor, and the Plymouth area. Lighthouses of Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the south coast are on the Southeastern Massachusetts page. Many of the lighthouses of northern Massachusetts are famous. The Boston Harbor Light is the second oldest U.S. lighthouse and the oldest U.S. light station. Massachusetts is divided into fourteen counties, although most of the county governments have been abolished or greatly reduced in function. The counties are subdivided into towns and cities for local government. Jeremy D'Entremont's book, The Lighthouses of Massachusetts (Beverly, Mass.: Commonwealth Editions, 2007) is an indispensible resource for information on these lighthouses. Navigational aids in northern Massachusetts are maintained by the Aids to Navigation Team of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Boston, but ownership (and sometimes operation) of historic lighthouses has been transferred to local authorities and preservation organizations in many cases. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. USCG numbers are from Vol. I of the USCG Light List.
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Essex County Lighthouses
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![]() Thacher Island South (left) and North Lights, September 2018 Instagram photo by Black Dog Fotography |
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![]() Bakers Island Light, Salem, August 2014 U.S.C.G./Flickr Creative Commons photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Rob Simpson |
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Boston City Lighthouses
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![]() Lightship Nantucket (LV 112) at East Boston, September 2024 photo provided by Bob Mannino, U.S. Lightship Museum |
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Norfolk County Lighthouse
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Northern Plymouth County Lighthouses
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Notable faux lighthouses:
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: New Hampshire | South: Southeastern Massachusetts
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted 2001. Checked and revised May 27, 2024. Lighthouses: 25; lightships : 2. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.