A century ago, five lighthouses lined the East Providence shoreline, lighting the way for ships passing from the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay into the Providence River and the busy port of Providence.

Only one remains.

On a scrabble of vertical rock about 800 feet from the Riverside shore sits Pomham Rocks Lighthouse, whose rich history stretches back more than 150 years. It has survived countless storms, brutal winters, several fierce hurricanes and decades of neglect, but the most dramatic chapter in its history book might cover the last 20 years, when a group of local residents decided they should save the thing before it fell into the bay. Literally, that came close to happening.

In most cases, these preservation stories have a familiar arc. A group of folks get together and dream of something that seems unimaginable at the time. They limp along, raising what money they can, making small gains through their own labor and sweat equity, until they finally win big support and big money. Eventually they reach the point when they’re ready for prime time.

The Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse have reached that point.

After two decades of hard work and creativity, the volunteer group has invested about $1.6 million of donations and grants into the preservation and restoration of the lighthouse. Freshly painted on the outside, restored as a gleaming showpiece on the inside, Pomham Rocks is ready for prime time.

The Friends have their own custom-designed boat, Lady Pomham II, and they are running tours multiple times per week, both weekends and weekdays, all summer. Launched from the Edgewood Yacht Club in Cranston, which is directly across the bay from Pomham Rocks, the excursion begins with a 10-minute boat ride to a dock on the north side of the island. From there, visitors get a tour that lasts about an hour and a half, where they can see all three levels of the lighthouse. If they’re willing, they can ascend a vertical ladder to the top of the tower, climb on hands and knees through a hatch, and stand on the metal ring outside the actual light to soak in sweeping views of the bay.

A visit to the rock

On a sunny weekday morning last week, three members of the Friends led a private tour for reporter and photographer. Captain of the launch and lead tour guide was Dennis Tardiff, chairman of the board of Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse and a retired Coast Guardsman.

Tardiff joined the Coast Guard as a young man more than 50 years ago, and his first duty assignment was at the tiny Pomham Rocks Lighthouse off the shore of East Providence. He was 19 years old when he started, and he lived in the lighthouse with one or two other Guardsmen from 1971 to 1974.

“It was set up to have three people stationed here — two people at all times, with the third off for a week. It was called semi-isolated duty. So after being here two weeks, you would have a week off,” Tardiff said. Later, the Coast Guard reduced the staffing to two. “So there were just two of us left. We were doing three days on, three days off, by ourselves.”

Tardiff was the last actual keeper of the light, before the Coast Guard decommissioned the tower on June 5, 1974, and automated a new light built atop a skeleton tower. The magnificent “Fresnel” lens that beamed red light across the bay was carefully packed up and moved to a museum in Newburyport, Mass.

Eventually the Coast Guard had no use for the Pomham Rocks lighthouse or property anymore, and it put the island up for sale. Exxon Mobil Corp., which owns a large terminal just across the water on the Riverside shore, bought it in 1980 for just $40,100.

After that, the lighthouse remained mostly untended and forgotten for the next 20 years — though not forgotten by the folks living nearby. In 2000, a small group of them approached Exxon Mobil to ask about saving and restoring it. The corporation was accepting of the idea and even got the group started with a $25,000 donation. In 2004, Exxon Mobil leased the lighthouse and island to American Lighthouse Foundation, which is a parent organization for the Friends, for no cost.

When the Friends began working on the property in earnest, they found the tower was leaning 7 degrees off-center. They were warned that a good nor’easter could send it tumbling into the water below.

“It’s just sitting out here exposed on a rock. It’s exposed to every weather condition imaginable,” said Louse Paiva, a Friends board member, grant writer and public relations chair.

The Friends have celebrated several milestone moments in the past decade. In 2006, they gathered to watch as the lighthouse tower returned to life, its red light beaming for the first time in 32 years. In 2018, they gathered again to celebrate the end of an interior renovation funded largely by a Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission grant.

Better than ever

It’s not hyperbole to say the lighthouse today is better than ever. Tardiff suggested that the 20th-century Coast Guard did not devote a lot of energy to interior decorating, as everything inside the building was gray and plain. Today the wood floors shine, and bright walls bring life to the space.

The lighthouse tower has been been fixed and fortified, and the accompanying building has undergone a major renovation. The interior is authentic as it can be. The kitchen has been restored to what it would have looked like in the 1950s. The gleaming kitchen table dates back to 1947. The working refrigerator is from 1946. The stove is from 1953.

The small rooms are filled with historical pieces, the walls lined with photographs and descriptions of the items and their place in history.

Their most prized display is the lens that beamed out to mariners from 1926 to 1974. Called a “Fresnel” lens, because it was invented by French physicist Augustine-Jean Fresnel in the early 19th century, it looks like a beehive of glass. Comprised of 54 separate glass pieces, it emits parallel beams of light that could be seen 17 miles away.

After the Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1974, it was moved to a museum in Newburyport, Mass., and remained there for decades, until Tardiff and the Friends made some calls and convinced the Coast Guard to return it to its original home. It has been back at Pomham Rocks since 2021.

“Before radar, these Fresnel lenses were a key lifesaver for people who traveled the oceans and rivers. Otherwise, there was no way to get enough light to guide people, so it was high-tech in the day,” said Rick Lux, a member of the Friends who served as First Mate and assistant tour guide on the recent trip to Pomham Rocks.

In early years, the lens would have been lit by lard oil. Then it became kerosene. Today the Fresnel lens remains on display on the first floor, while a small LED light shines from atop the tower, powered by electricity running through an underwater cable from the Riverside mainland.

The historical displays continue on the second floor of the building. One room is devoted to the history of the lighthouses along the East Providence shoreline. Gone are lighthouses at Sassafras Point, Sabin Point, Fuller Rocks and Bullocks Point, all destroyed by fire, storm or time.

The work continues

For as much as they’ve accomplished, the Friends know the work will never end. Just last week, they reconnected the gutters that feed from the roof of the lighthouse into a 4,900-gallon cistern in the basement. It is the only source of water on the island, so reconnecting the system is a big deal.

One of the next big projects will be to install replica wooden shutters over all the windows — both for authenticity and for protection during big storms.

They also plan to replace areas of chain-link fencing with wooden picket fencing reminiscent of what was there originally. An 80-year-old dock also needs repairs. Its pilings are rotting beneath and the deck timbers lift and move under the strain of big storms.

The Friends now have more than 200 active members. They sell T-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia from a gift shop inside the lighthouse. And they are always accepting donations for future maintenance and repairs.

For more information about tours, the lighthouse and its history, go to: pomhamrockslighthouse.org/