Before electricity, batteries or solar panels, lamplight was generated by oil. And a light bright enough to be seen from seventeen miles away needed a lot of oil! The oil that powered the Hunting Island Lighthouse was stored here.
Constructed when the lighthouse was erected at this location in 1889, the oil house's solid brick walls and floors provided fireproof storage for the 660 gallons of oil required by the light. Once a month, oil was delivered to the island. Once a day, the keeper carried it up the tower's 167 steps!
Built purely for utility, the oil house, shown here circa 1950, has changed little. The 1889 Outfit List for Light Stations inventoried items kept here, including brass funnels and five-gallon cans.
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