Editing Abisha Woodward (section)

== Career ==

Woodward distinguished himself in New London as a fine architect and contractor.  Prior to building lighthouses, he was co-named in a contract for building New London's new meetinghouse in 1788<ref name="blake1900">{{cite book|last1=Blake|first1=Silas Leroy|title=The later history of the First Church of Christ, New London, Conn|date=1900|publisher=Day Publishing Company|page=216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQwWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=abishai+woodward+new+london&source=bl&ots=2egu1RcEhG&sig=AWDE09hOsYdAXlNQ0oyHbToJ6U0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih6-zFhYzMAhVBMz4KHetVC5gQ6AEITDAK#v=onepage&q=abishai%20woodward%20new%20london&f=false|accessdate=13 April 2016}}</ref>.  Home construction in town likely kept him busy around 1790, a time during which New London was experiencing significant growth<ref name="theday1904">{{cite news|last1=Wall|first1=R. B.|title=Sites and Buildings of Old Main Street: Seventh Instalment [sic]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19041208&id=AEFHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fPgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6001,3563652&hl=en|accessdate=13 April 2016|work=The Day|date=December 8, 1904}}</ref>.  

Woodward's work on lighthouses began with a federal contract he won in 1793 to complete the [[Bald Head Light]] at [[Cape Fear, North Carolina]]<ref name="lhf-baldhead">{{cite web|title=Bald Head, NC|url=http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=349|website=LighthouseFriends.com|accessdate=13 April 2016}}</ref>, which was already partially constructed prior to his arrival.<ref name="oct">{{cite web | url=http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/types/octagonals.html | title=Early Federal Octagonals, 1792-1817 | publisher=The Lighthouse Directory | accessdate=3 April 2014}}</ref>  He later submitted a bid in 1796 to build the [[Montauk Point Lighthouse]], but lost the contract to [[John McComb]]<ref name=oct />. After the turn of the century, Woodward secured contracts to oversee the construction of five lighthouses along the Connecticut coast and one in New York on the east end of [[Long Island, New York|Long Island]]<ref name="lhf-littlegull">{{cite web|title=Little Gull Island, NY|url=http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=742|website=LighthouseFriends.com|accessdate=13 April 2016}}</ref>.

Woodward constructed both wooden and stone lighthouses during his career.  The last and longest-lived of his wooden lighthouses was replaced in 1841 after 36 years of service<ref name="woyce2015">{{cite book|last1=Woyce|first1=Kevin|title=Lighthouses: Connecticut & Block Island|date=2015|isbn=9781312949829|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4vrUBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT16&dq=%22abisha+woodward%22+lighthouse&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM49PWsYrMAhWEph4KHWW2CJUQ6AEIKDAC#v=onepage&q=%22abisha%20woodward%22&f=false|accessdate=13 April 2016}}</ref>.  Two of Woodward's stone lighthouses, the New London Harbor Lighthouse completed in 1801<ref name="tamulevich2015">{{cite news|last1=Tamulevich|first1=Susan|title=A Guiding Beacon: New London’s ‘Pequot’ Lighthouse|url=http://www.nlmaritimesociety.org/AAW-2015-07-10_38.pdf|accessdate=13 April 2016|work=Antiques and The Arts Weekly|date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> and the Faulkner's Island Lighthouse completed 1802<ref name="dentremont-2014">{{cite book|last1=D'Entremont|first1=Jeremy|title=The Lighthouse Handbook: New England|date=2014|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781604334012|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XREuAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT67&lpg=PT67&dq=%22abisha+woodward%22+ligthhouse&source=bl&ots=LLUqtgUgNd&sig=E1XGQWpFIgT4EODzk9URouq9UAA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwim94WWsorMAhXIn4MKHc7sCdkQ6AEIRjAH#v=onepage&q=%22abisha%20woodward%22%20ligthhouse&f=false|accessdate=13 April 2016}}</ref>, remain standing to this day and still serve as active aids to navigation.