A BRIEF HISTORY

East Chop Lighthouse stands on Telegraph Hill in Oak Bluffs, a site first used in the early 1800s as part of a coastal semaphore system that signaled the arrival of vessels to Boston. The first lighthouse here was privately built by Captain Silas Daggett, who sought to meet mariners’ need for a beacon on the eastern approach to Vineyard Haven Harbor. After that early structure burned in 1871, Daggett rebuilt it the following year.

In 1875, the U.S. government purchased the property and constructed the cast-iron lighthouse that remains today. Equipped originally with a fourth-order Fresnel lens visible 20 miles out to sea, East Chop Light served as a critical guide for schooners entering Vineyard Sound. Over time, the site evolved with new technology, including motorized lens-turning equipment and later automation, which ended the need for a full-time keeper.

During the twentieth century, Oak Bluffs acquired the surrounding land for a public park, and the lighthouse transitioned through several updates, including the replacement of its Fresnel lens. Restoration work in the late 1980s and early 1990s—undertaken through a landmark federal license—returned East Chop, along with the Island’s other active lights, to local stewardship. That license was the first of its kind in the nation for operating lighthouses.

The Martha’s Vineyard Museum became steward of East Chop Lighthouse in 1994 and continues to maintain and operate the tower. Supported by funding from the Oak Bluffs Community Preservation Act, preservation efforts have restored key structural elements, ensuring that the lighthouse remains accessible to visitors and continues its long service as an Island landmark.