Clarks Point is the southernmost extension of the city of New - TopicsExpress

Clarks Point is the southernmost extension of the city of New Bedford, in Buzzards Bay on the west side of the entrance to the Acushnet River and New Bedford Harbor. The areas fledgling whaling industry flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, making New Bedford one of the richest cities in the world. Clarks Point was an ideal location for a navigational aid to help mariners heading to New Bedford. Local merchants erected the first wooden lighthouse on the point in 1797. Historian Daniel Ricketson described the construction of the lighthouse: “A wooden lighthouse was built at Clarks Point, at the raising of which, to induce the people to assist, and for the sake of a general jollification at so important an event, a hundred gallon try-pot of chowder, with other entertainment, was prepared. Much to the credit of the sobriety of our predecessors, no one became intoxicated on this occasion. Little is known of the structure, which burned down about a year later. Ricketson wrote that the fire took place during a thunderstorm and was probably the result of the tower being hit by lightning, or possibly a seabird crashing through the lantern glass and upsetting the lamps. The lighthouse was promptly rebuilt, financed by local merchants and mariners. In 1857, a new fort began to take shape next to the lighthouse. The fort was known as Fort Taber in honor of the citys mayor in the early 1860s, Isaac C. Taber. The high walls of the fort eventually blocked the view of the light. In 1869, a rectangular wooden tower was erected on the northerly tower of the fort. The lantern from the old stone tower was relocated to the new structure, and the new light went into service on June 15, 1869. This bifold postcard from the early 1900s shows the old lighthouse tower, minus its lantern, next to the fort.