Name and Location

Wing's Neck Light is a late-19th-century lighthouse station marking the eastern entrance to Buzzards Bay at Pocasset Harbor in Bourne, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA. Its official address is 1 Lighthouse Lane, Pocasset, MA 02559.

2. Construction and History

The lighthouse was established in 1889 and deactivated in 1945. It was originally built to guide vessels into Pocasset Harbor and serve Buzzards Bay shipping traffic. In 1987, the site was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (Ref. #87001503).

3. Architecture and Materials

The lighthouse's architectural style is late Victorian cottage-style, with an integrated lantern room. The structure features wood-frame construction, wood shingle cladding, and a granite block foundation.

4. Light and Navigation

The original tower height was approximately 10 feet above the roof ridge (structure height overall around 30 feet). The focal plane was estimated to be about 40 feet above mean high water. It is believed that the lighthouse used a sixth-order Fresnel lens, typical of small harbor lights from the era. The range was historically reported at around 6 nautical miles.

5. Accessibility and Visiting

The lighthouse is currently a private residence and not open to the public. However, it can be viewed from waterfront viewpoints on Wings Neck Road and from passing boats in Pocasset Harbor.

6. Notable Views and Landscape

The surrounding landscape features rocky Cape Cod shoreline with mixed oak-pine woods, marshes, and tidal flats. From the lighthouse, one can enjoy panoramic views of Buzzards Bay, the Elizabeth Islands to the south, and occasional commercial vessels passing by.

7. Anecdotes and Folklore

Mariners' journals note that fog often banked in from Buzzards Bay, obscuring the light and making harbor entry tricky. Local pilots sometimes guided steamers in by whistle. Keeper families hosted summer picnics on nearby rocks, but no formal records survive.

8. Technical and Operational Details

The lighthouse was never automated; it was extinguished and removed in 1945. The original function was to guide vessels into Pocasset Harbor and serve Buzzards Bay shipping traffic. There is limited information available regarding the light's characteristic, fog signal, and keepers' staff.

9. Further Information

For further reading, consult the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, MassGIS Lighthouses data, Wikidata entry Q8025064, "Lighthouses of Cape Cod and the Islands" by Edward Rowe Snow (1995), and United States Coast Guard Light List (historical volumes, 1889-1945).