The large, well-protected harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was an important port in colonial America. In 1771 the Royal Governor John Wentworth had a wooden lighthouse built at Fort William and Mary (later named Fort Constitution) on Great Island, in what is now the town of New Castle in Portsmouth Harbor, about a mile from the mouth of the Piscataqua River.

Construction began in April and the tower was first lighted by early July of 1771. The shingled tower was about 50 feet tall and was topped by an iron lantern with a copper roof, with the light produced by three oil lamps made of copper.

A new 48-foot cast-iron lighthouse tower was erected in 1878 on the same foundation as the previous tower. The lighthouse was painted a reddish-brownish color until 1902, when it was painted white. Apparently for a time in the early 1920s it was again painted reddish-brown. Since then it has been white.

Link:http://www.lighthouse.cc/portsmouth/index.html

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