Thacher Island

First visted by Europeans as early as 1605 by Samuel de Champlain, the island is named after Anthony Thacher, who was aboard the ship "The Watch and Wait" when it wrecked near the island in 1635 on its way to Marblehead from Ipswich.

Thacher and his wife, Elizabeth, were the only survivors of the wreck in which 21 people died, including Thacher's four children from a previous marriage. Also among the dead was Thacher's cousin, the Reverend Joseph Avery, his wife and six children.

The General Court of Massachusetts awarded Thacher the island "at the head of Cape Ann" as compensation him for his losses, and he originally dubbed the island "Thacher's Woe."

The island remained in the Thacher family for 80 years when it was sold back to Massachusetts for the purpose of establishing a light station.

By 1771, John Hancock, who owed several ships around Cape Ann petitioned the General Court to construct twin lighthouses on the island to mark Londoner Ledge southeast of Thacher Island. Until that time all lighthouses built in the colonies had been contructed to mark the entrance to a harbor. They became the last lighthouses built under British rule in the colonies.

Money to pay for the lighthouses came from fees that were collected from local shipping. The two 45-foot stone towers, 300 yards apart, were first lite on December 21, 1771. The twins were given the nickname "Ann's Eyes."

The island's first lightkeeper was Captain James Kirkwood. He and his two assistants kept cattle and sheep on the island. Eighteen months after taking the position at Thacher Island, Kirkwood complained that he and his assistants had not been paid. Local Patriots accused Kirkwood of being unpatriotic and eventually he was branded a Tory. In 1775, Minutemen arrived at Thatcher Island and removed Kirkwood, who managed to escape to Canada. The lights stayed dark until 1793.

Thacher Island was ceded to the federal government in 1790. Joseph Sayward became the next keeper in 1793 when the twin lights were finally relighted. The pay for the keepers was $400 yearly, but this was reduced to "266 2/3 dollars" by order of President Washington. This was presumably because Thacher Island was thought to be an advantageous place to live, with cattle and a vegetable garden to provide food.

In 1912 for the first time, the government proposed shutting down both lights. That decision was put on hold until 1932.

In 1919 the vessel SS America, carrying President of the United States Woodrow Wilson nearly shipwrecked on the island.

In 1967 the Federal Government brought gangster Joseph Barboza Baron to Thacher Island for safe keeping while tesitfying against other organized crime figures. Barboza complained of the primitive living conditions on the island and when secret of his whereabouts had become known he was moved to a rented estate on Gloucester's Eastern Point. He was eventually relocated to California under the witness protection program. One Coast Guardsman later reported that "Baron was a heck of a nice guy."

As of 2007, the island is still Federal property administered by the US Coast Guard, but plans are underway for the USCG to turn over part of the island to the town of Rockport who has agreed to continue to maintain both lighthouses on the island.

The Thacher Island National Wildlife Refuge occupies 22 acres on the Northern end of the isalnd and is administered by the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and is accesible by boat. The North Light is open to the public.

parkerriver.fws.gov

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