Are Lighthouses Still Used?

Are lighthouses still used?

Yes, lighthouses are still used. GPS World reports that of roughly 850 US lighthouses, only about half still serve as active aids to navigation, and the Coast Guard has automated all of them. Mariners treat them as a backup to electronic navigation. GPS made the rest obsolete. Lights come up for sale in both groups.

That figure comes from a 2023 GPS World article citing reporting by Dorothy Wickenden, so treat it as an estimate. The US Lighthouse Society says never more than about 850 were in operation at once, out of about 1,500 built.

When were lighthouses automated?

The Coast Guard began automating lighthouses in the mid-1960s and finished by 1990, apart from Boston Light, which was automated in 1998. Before that a keeper lived on site. The Lighthouse Board and then the Lighthouse Service ran the lights from 1852 to 1939, and the Coast Guard took over in 1939.

Automation ended the resident keeper’s job at nearly every station. Boston Light kept a keeper, Sally Snowman, until she retired in 2023.

Why do lighthouses get sold if they still work?

Because the Coast Guard needs the light, not the property. It declares a lighthouse excess to its property needs, and GSA then offers the station to new stewards or the public. The Coast Guard keeps the aid to navigation and the right to enter and service it.

GSA and the Coast Guard offer excess stations to new stewards while the Coast Guard keeps operating the lights. Many of the excess stations reported under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act are active aids to navigation.

Who keeps the light after a lighthouse is sold?

The Coast Guard keeps the light after a lighthouse is sold. The aid to navigation remains the personal property of the United States and continues to be operated and maintained by the Coast Guard. The new owner gets the tower and land, and the Coast Guard keeps an easement to reach the equipment without notice.

At Smith Point the Coast Guard maintains the lamp, and at Middle Ground it maintains the lantern. If you buy a lit lighthouse, you own a tower with a government light on top. See the status guide for historic and decommissioned lighthouses.