| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Date of Issue | July 13, 2013 |
| Year | 2013 |
| Quantity | 16,200,000 |
| Denomination |
First-Class Forever Commemorative
|
| Denomination Value | $0.46 |
| Perforation or Dimension | .98 x 1.56 in./24.89 x 39.62 mm |
| Series | New England Coastal Lighthouses |
| Series Time Span | 2013 |
| Issue Location | Portland, ME 04101; New Castle, NH 03854; Narragansett, RI 02883; New London, CT 06320; & Boston, MA 02205 |
| Postal Administration | United States |
Located at the entrance to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, Point Judith Lighthouse guards a particularly dangerous area of the Atlantic. The point, which extends several miles into the Atlantic, has seen many shipwrecks, even after the addition of the lighthouse.
The first lighthouse built on the site, in 1810, was a wooden tower that toppled over in a storm five years later. A second tower, made of sturdier stone, was erected in 1816; its lamps and lenses were operated by clockwork mechanism powered by a 288-pound weight. This 35-foot tower remained in service until 1857, when the current lighthouse was built. The octagonal tower, made from brownstone blocks, stands 51 feet high and boasts a fourth-order Fresnel lens.
Automated in 1954, the lighthouse underwent a major restoration in 2000 using blocks from the same area where the original stone was quarried. The lighthouse stands on the Coast Guard Station Point Judith and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988.
On July 13, 2013, in Portland, Maine; New Castle, New Hampshire; Narragansett, Rhode Island; New London, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, the Postal Service™ will issue the New England Coastal Lighthouses (Forever® priced at 46 cents) commemorative First-Class Mail® stamps in five designs in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps. The stamps will go on sale nationwide July 13, 2013.
There’s something about lighthouses. They fascinate us; they enchant us; they draw us in. Utilitarian yet majestic, these structures achieve a beauty and romance that reach far beyond their practical natures. Recognizing our love affair with these lonely sentinels, the U.S. Postal Service has released a series of stamps celebrating our nation’s lighthouses.
New England Coastal Lighthouses features five lighthouses: Portland Head, Cape Elizabeth, Maine; Portsmouth Harbor, New Castle, New Hampshire; Point Judith, Narragansett, Rhode Island; New London Harbor, New London, Connecticut; and Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts. Each stamp shows a close-up view of one of the five lighthouses that captures not only the down-to-earth aspect of the tower but also the mysterious qualities that compel us to come closer.
These five lighthouses are among the oldest in the U.S., and each is on the National Register of Historic Places. Boston Harbor Light is also a National Historic Landmark.
Howard Koslow created original paintings for New England Coastal Lighthouses stamp art—and for the entire lighthouse series. Howard E. Paine and Greg Breeding served as art directors.
The New England Coastal Lighthouses stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps.