The original Beavertail Lighthouse was built in 1749 and was the third lighthouse in the Thirteen Colonies. Like many of the first lighthouses in the United States, the first Beavertail Lighthouse was made out of wood and vulnerable to fire. A second wooden lighthouse was built in 1753 after the first burned down. This lighthouse was used for about 100 years before the U.S. Lighthouse Board was established in 1852 and wanted to modernize the country’s deteriorating lighthouses.
The current tower and a keeper’s house, which now houses the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum, were built in 1856. Over the past decade, different parts of the Beavertail Lighthouse station have been restored and the Museum received a large expansion.
