Note 407 — JOURNAL OF OUR VOYAGE FROM NEW NETHERLAND
Reading edition
It can hardly have been more than a beacon. The first lighthouse was built in pursuance of an act of 1715, the preamble of which begins, "Whereas we want of a lighthouse at the entrance of the harbour of Boston hath been a great discouragement to navigation," etc. The new lighthouse was to be erected "on the southermost point of Great Brewster, called Beacon Island."