After a few design ideas, the engineers settled on building Graves Light on a large, low section of ledge, with the base of the lighthouse to be submerged at high tide.
Workmen dynamited the ledge so that stonemasons could build a huge granite tower around a stump of ledge to keep the lighthouse secure.
A square granite oil house, to store fuel, would be located on a smaller but higher ledge about 90 feet away. The two buildings would be joined by a steel catwalk.
Here is an image of the original Army Corps of Engineers sketch, furnished to us by the Massachusetts Historical Society.
An image of the original Army engineers’ plan for building the lighthouse and oil house on Graves Ledge, joined by a 90-foot elevated catwalk. (Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society)
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