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Saybrook Breakwater Light

old saybrook, ct

Also known as the "Outer Light", this is the lighthouse you see on Connecticut license plates!

Built in 1886 at a cost of $20.000, she stands fifty-eight feet tall and shows a flashing green light every six seconds that is visible for twenty miles. In fog, she sounds one blast every thirty seconds.

It was understandably tough to get keepers to man this light. Originally, because there was no jetty, keepers and provisions went out by boat, a very treacherous undertaking, especially in winter. The river currents run very fast. They added more rocks to make the jetty walkable, but waves made it very slippery and it all turned to ice in winter. Keepers lasted a little over two years!

During the hurricane of I938, Keeper Gross and Assistant Keeper Bennett, though fearing for their lives, manned their posts and kept the light going all night while the world around them was being destroyed. An entry in the log the next morning reads: "Everything swept away by the hurricane except the tower".

Sailing into the Connecticut River at night, you use this lighthouse as a range light together with Lynde Point Light, which sits about half a mile north ... connected by a jetty. When these lights are in line, you have a clean shot at the channel. Leave these lights to port and expect some exceptionally fast current!