According to the Vineyard Visitor the East Chop lighthouse in Oak Bluffs was “Originally built in 1802 on Telegraph Hill, the lighthouse is on the site of the signal station that received semaphore messages from Woods Hole to indicate the arrival of homebound whaling ships. The current lighthouse was built in 1877.”
In the early 1870’s Silas Daggett built a lighthouse at East Chop and operated it privately until 1871 when it burned down and was rebuilt on top of a house. In 1875 the government bought it and removed Daggett’s structure. The new lighthouse was painted white at first but in 1880 was painted a reddish-brown color thus earning the nickname the “chocolate lighthouse.” It was repainted white in 1988.
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January 22, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Seamond
You see that spruce tree in the front of the tower? It was just a little bitty sprig once and when we left the island we hoped it might be big enough some day to be a Christmas tree at East Chop — and now, so it is! When we were there, it was absolutely the chocolate tower and to be frank, the color was God-awful-ugly. We were told by a lighthouse buff that the paint was the left over from the old Nobska back when Nobska was also chocolate colored. I had assumed they painted it that color so no one would think it was West Chop-and no one ever could with that color on it. Any mariner worth his weight, could tell from the two lighthouse locations which was which, but any landlubber also could from the chocolate brown. It was dreadfully drear and I was very happy to see it become white and pretty. Seamond, the keeper’s daughter.