Five Finger Islands Light

The Five Finger Islands Light is a lighthouse located on a small island that lies between Stephens Passage and Frederick Sound in southeastern Alaska. It and Sentinel Island Light Station were the first U.S. government lighthouses opened in Alaska, lit first on March 21, 1902.[4]

Five Finger Islands Light

Five Finger Islands Light in 2003
Alaska
Location	The Five Finger southernmost island Frederick Sound Alaska United States
Coordinates	57°16′13″N 133°37′54″W
Year first constructed	1902 (first)
Year first lit	1935 (current)
Automated	1984
Foundation	concrete pier
Construction	reinforced concrete tower
Tower shape	square tower with lantern centered on the roof of keeper's house
Markings / pattern	art deco architecture white tower, black lantern
Tower height	68 feet (21 m)
Focal height	81 feet (25 m)
Original lens	Fourth order Fresnel lens
Range	18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi)
Characteristic	Fl W 10s. emergency light Fl W 6s of reduced intensity when main light is extinguished
Admiralty number	G6342
ARLHS number	ALK-007
USCG number	6-23280
Managing agent	Juneau Lighthouse Association[1] [2]
Heritage	place listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Five Finger Light Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Alaska Heritage Resources Survey
Nearest city	Petersburg, Alaska
Area	less than one acre
Architect	U.S. Lighthouse Service; U.S. Lighthouse Board
Architectural style	Modern Movement, Art Deco
MPS	Light Stations of the United States MPS
NRHP reference No.	04000416[3]
AHRS No.	SUM-00009
Added to NRHP	May 12, 2004

It became the last lighthouse in Alaska to be automated on August 14, 1984.

History

In 1901, a contract of $22,500 was awarded to construct a lighthouse on the southernmost of the Five Finger Islands. Completed in 1902, it was a rectangular lighthouse with a square tower, elevated several feet above the surrounding hipped roof. Atop the tower sat a lantern room from which a fourth-order Fresnel lens produced a fixed beam of white light at a focal plane of 68 feet (21 m). The original structure burned down in December 1933. The tower was rebuilt using public works appropriations. The current structure is made of concrete, which was completed and relit in 1935. It was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1984.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Five Finger Light Station in 2004. The listing was as a historic district including four contributing buildings and one other contributing structure.[3]

The original lighthouse burned. The replacement, built in 1935, "is a good example of Modern Movement architecture, popular in the 1930s for concrete buildings, and adapted by the U.S. Lighthouse Service as the agency replaced the original wood frame lighthouse buildings at many of its sixteen staffed stations in Alaska."[4]

The light station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[3]

• 
  Original 1902 Lighthouse – USCG archive photo
• 
  1992

See also

• List of lighthouses in the United States

References

1. Five Finger Islands The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 7 June 2016
2. Alaska Historic Light Station Information & Photography United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 7 June 2016
3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
4. Valerie O'Hare and Jennifer Klein (March 23, 2004). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Five Finger Light Station / Five Finger Lighthouse / AHRS Site No. SUM-00009". National Park Service. and accompanying photos

External links

• United States Coast Guard
• 2007 U.S. postage stamp featuring Five Finger Islands Light
• "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Alaska" (PDF). United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.
• Lighthouse Friends — Five Finger Islands Lighthouse
• Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Alaska". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.