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History
In 1850, a screw-pile lighthouse was built upon Brandywine Shoal, and
its initial success encouraged the Lighthouse Board to try it again at
Cross Ledge. The project was begun in 1855, but ice flows during the
winter of 1856 destroyed the work and caused the board to reconsider
the wisdom of erecting screwpile lighthouses in so northerly a location.
A lightship (Upper Middle Lightship) was placed on the site until Cross
Ledge was completed in 1875. The new lighthouse was described as a
black lantern on a white two-story wood framed structure, with lead
colored trimmings, green shutters, and a mansard roof. The lighthouse
was built atop a granite pier. Due to deteriorating condition of the
foundation and the erection of the nearby Elbow of Cross Ledge
Lighthouse, Cross Ledge was decommissioned in 1907. Today only the
granite foundation remains. It is known to locals as "the rockpile."
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