Excerpted from Doc. No. 183, I.W.P Lewis' inspection of lighthouses, is a detailed description of conditions at the Wigwam Point (Annisquam Harbor) lighthouse in 1842. Keeper of the lighthouse was George Day, son of James Day.

No. 36 SQUAM HARBOR

Condition of buildings.

Tower 32 feet high; frame building, on rubble underpinning; propped up by long spars to prevent its being blown over; sills, angleposts, and frame, generally decayed and rotten.

Dwelling house of two rooms and a small kitchen; a frame building without attic or even cockloft; chimney undermined by rats and settled down twelve inches below hearth. This entire establishment in the last stages of dilapidation.

Lantern of usual form, containing six lamps and reflectors of twelve and a half inches diameter; all the apparatus rude and ill-contrived.

Centre of the light is 38 feet above the level of mean high water, and it should easily be seen in clear weather 9, 17 miles.

Location. on a rocky point near the entrance of Annnis Squam harbor; a local harbor beacon of exceeding usefulness to the fishermen who prefer it to the chart compass; and it is likewise often made available by coasters who may be so unfortunate as to get hampered in Ipswich bay with an east wind.

The establishment requires rebuilding entirely. One lamp of proper form alone is required here instead of six now used.

I was appointed keeper of this light in the year of its erection, A.D. 1800, and am now seventy-two years of age. I was bred a seaman. The tower is a frame building, standing upon a point of rocks, and is merely a harbor light, showing the entrance to Annis Squam harbor. The frame of the tower is rotted in all parts and has been shored up with spars for about twenty years. In heavy gales the tower is so shaken as to be very unsafe, and I hardly know what has kept it standing. Two years ago the walk or bridge leading from the house to the tower was swept away by a heavy sea only a few minutes after I crossed it. In winter the ice collects on the stairs so as to render the passage up and down very dangerous. I expect every storm that comes the tower will be destroyed. The principal use of this light is for the fishermen of the neighborhood, of whom there are great numbers, and who anchor off shore without any compass or means of finding their way back except this light. My dwelling-house is a frame building with two rooms, and a small wash-house attached; the house is exceedingly cold and uncomfortable in the winter season; is leaky and rotten, and quite as bad as the light-house. My salary has been $350 for a few years past; previously it was but $200. I have repaired the roof of my house several times on account of its leaking so badly. There never have been any important repairs put on the premises since their first erection. About ten years ago, the rats undermined the chimney of the house so that it settled down several inches. I consider the whole establishment to be in a very dilapidated and ruinous state, and that a light so long known as this, and one that has become necessary to the navigation of this vicinity, should be rebuilt. I am allowed a wherry boat, which is only useful in smooth weather. There is a life boat placed here under my care by the Humane Society. This boat has been used twice, and saved lives from two wrecks on the bar. There is a well of good water which I dug myself many years ago, and which maintains a depth of six feet.

GEORGE DAY, Keeper