WASHINGTON — The Point Judith Lighthouse of Narragansett Bay is one of five lighthouses to featured by the U.S. Postal Service on the “New England Coastal Lighthouses Forever Stamps.”
The other four structures depicted are the Boston Harbor, New London Harbor, Portland Head and Portsmouth Harbor lighthouses.
A first day of issue ceremony will take place in all five communities on July 13 to celebrate the launch of the stamps.
The Point Judith ceremony will take place at the lighthouse at 1470 Ocean Rd. in Narragansett at 10 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The Point Judith Lighthouse is located at the entrance of Narragansett Bay, considered an especially dangerous part of the Atlantic by the USPS.
The 51-foot high, octagonal tower was restored in 2000 with blocks from the same area where the original brownstone was quarried. The current tower, automated in 1954, dates back to 1857. It is the third lighthouse on the site to date — the previous two lighthouses were built in 1810 out of wood and in 1816 out of stone.
The five New England lighthouses spotlighted in this series hold the distinction of being among the oldest lighthouses in the United States. All five are on the National Register of Historical Places.
Toms River, N.J.-based artist Howard Koslow created the acrylic painting representations of the five lighthouses that are featured in the stamps. Koslow produced the art for the entire USPS Lighthouse series of stamps, in addition to working on numerous other stamp projects, said the USPS.
