First Lighthouse

By the late 1600's Boston had become a center of shipping and commerce and Boston merchants presented a petition to the local authorities for the "Construction of a Lighthouse and lanthorn on some head land at the entrance of Boston Harbor". The first lighthouse in America was thus constructed on Little Brewster Island in 1716.

This mezzotint has the distinction of being the first maritime print issued in colonial America.

For more information, e-mail collections@MarinersMuseum.org.