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A reader recently wrote in with a simple question: “The Marblehead Light — the green light at Chandler Hovey — is blinking. This has never ever happened. Why?”
The short answer, according to Marblehead Harbormaster Mark Souza, is reassuring.
“That’s just a fault in the light,” Souza said. “The Coast Guard notified me. They’re going to be fixing it. It’s likely the bulb.”
In other words, the blinking isn’t a secret signal, a navigational change, or a historic shift. It’s a maintenance issue.
But that flicker has prompted a deeper look at what the green light actually means — and why it matters.
An active aid to navigation
Marblehead Light, located at 4 Lighthouse Lane on Chandler Hovey Park, is not just a scenic landmark. It remains an active aid to navigation in the First Coast Guard District.
The structure itself is a 105-foot-tall square cast-iron skeletal tower, painted military brown up to the gallery with a black lantern room at the top. It doesn’t look like a traditional white lighthouse, but it performs the same essential function.
The light’s official characteristic is “Fixed Green,” meaning it is designed to shine steadily, not blink. It has a nominal range of seven nautical miles — roughly eight statute miles — and is also equipped with a fog signal that sounds two blasts every 20 seconds.
So when it blinks, that’s not by design.
“It won’t change color,” Souza explained. “If it’s blinking, that’s a mechanical issue. The Coast Guard handles that.”
Why green?
The green color is not decorative. It serves a precise navigational role.
Under the U.S. lateral navigation system — the red-and-green channel-marking system used throughout American waters — mariners follow a simple rule: “red, right, returning.” When coming back into harbor from sea, red markers should be on the vessel’s starboard (right) side. Green marks the opposite edge of the channel.
At Marblehead, the fixed green beam marks the port side of the harbor entrance for vessels returning from sea.
“It’s an old navigation beacon,” Souza said. “It’s still used.”
That may surprise some residents. Across the country, many historic lighthouses have been decommissioned as GPS and electronic navigation systems became standard. But Marblehead Light remains active and maintained by the Coast Guard.
A light that has evolved
Marblehead’s lighthouse story dates back nearly two centuries.
In 1831, Marblehead citizens requested a lighthouse at the harbor entrance. Congress appropriated funding in 1834, and the original 23-foot white tower went into operation on Oct. 10, 1835.
By the 1890s, however, development around the site had blocked the small tower from view at sea. In 1896, the current 105-foot cast-iron skeletal tower was erected, replacing the earlier structure.
The light was originally fixed white. It changed to red in 1933 and then to green in 1938 — the color it displays today.
The lighthouse was automated in 1960, and the keeper’s house was later demolished. In 1993, the tower was restored and repainted.
Through all of those changes, its job has remained consistent: guide vessels safely into Marblehead Harbor.
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