The East Chop Light by Ella Derbyshire

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

This is the East Chop Light on Telegraph Hill near Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. It marks the east side of the entrance to Vineyard Haven.

The East Chop Light is an active aid to navigation with a 300mm optic producing a repeating three second green flash alternating with three seconds of darkness.

There was a semaphore station on Telegraph Hill between 1828 and 1834, and that is the origin of the hill’s name. In 1869 Silas Daggett built and operated the first lighthouse here, and he operated the light using funds donated by local businesses as well as his own money. Mr. Daggett’s first lighthouse burned down in 1871, but he placed a navigational light on top of a house, and he operated that light until 1878, when the federal government funded and built the present forty foot cast iron tower with its original fourth-order Fresnel lens. Mr. Daggett’s house with its light atop was removed, and Mr. Daggett returned to his life as a mariner.

Originally painted white, a new color scheme in the 1880's earned it the name “The Chocolate Light.” Today the East Chop Light is painted bright white and is maintained by Martha’s Vineyard Museum. The grounds around the tower are beautiful and they are open to visitors. From mid-June to mid-September the lighthouse itself is open for sunset tours, weather permitting.

The 42 images of this panorama were photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and stitched with Autopano Giga.