Wickford Harbor Light
lighthouse in Rhode Island, United States
Wickford Harbor Light, now officially Wickford Harbor Light 1, was built in 1882 as a square wood tower attached to a 1+1⁄2-story keeper's dwelling on Old Gay Rock on the south side of the entrance to Wickford Harbor on the west side of Narragansett Bay. It was deactivated and torn down in 1930 and replaced with the current black steel skeleton tower.
“Wickford Harbor Light” enters the record as lighthouse in Rhode Island, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wickford, Harbor and Light can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Wickford Harbor Light” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Wickford, Harbor and Light provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7998367. Authority coordinates are 41.573, -71.436. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882 and 1930.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wickford Harbor Light”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wickford Harbor Light primary sources, Wickford Harbor Light archive and Wickford research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wickford Harbor Light”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wickford Harbor Light” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.