Maine - Pumpkin Island Lighthouse

The Pumpkin Island Lighthouse is located near Little Deer Isle, ME. This privately owned Pumpkin Island Lighthouse stands on the northwestern side of its namesake, which lies along the south side of the entrance to Eggemoggin Reach. The light station dates from 1854 when a twenty-two foot conical brick tower was erected and showed a fixed white light. The station also included an attached one-and-a-half-story wooden keeper's dwelling and a barn. The tower is attached to the dwelling by a work shop.

The station was closed in 1934 and sold by the government for $552 to George Harmon of Bar Harbor, ME. He also bought at least two other area lighthouses during the same period. Five years later, Harmon was offering Pumpkin Island property for $2000. The property has been sold several times over the years, but remains privately owned. At one time, the asking price for the well-maintained, two-acre island and building was $1.2 million. I can't imagine its value at the time of my visit in 2001.

Maine - Eagle Island Lighthouse

The Eagle Island Lighthouse is located near Deer Isle, ME. It was commissioned by President Van Buren in 1839 and established on the east end of the two-hundred-sixty acre island. A wood frame, two story keeper's house and fog bell tower were built at the same time as the rubble masonry lighthouse. In 1858 a fourth order Fresnel lens was installed to replace ten lamps providing the light.  An oil house was added in 1895. A bronze bell weighing 4,200 pounds was installed in the bell tower in 1932.

Over the years, improvements followed, although some were long overdue by the time they were accomplished. Light keeper's had no well for drinking water until 1947, nor indoor plumbing until 1949.

In 1959, the twenty-eight foot Eagle Island Lighthouse was automated. The Fresnel lens was removed and replaced by battery powered electric lamp. The station was then closed. All the buildings except the tower itself were put up for bid with the condition the buyer remove structures from the light station property. When no one came forward, the Coast Guard in 1963 decided to raze the buildings. Members of the Quinn family, long-time residents of the island with ties to previous keepers of the Eagle Island Light, appealed the decision but were unsuccessful in preventing the demolition.

In 1964 all buildings were razed, leaving the tower scarred and only traces of the old foundations remaining. While trying to remove the giant fog bell, the demolition crew lost control of it and the bell careened down the cliff into the ocean. Years later an unexpecting lobster man found the bell and towed it to Great Spruce Head Island. Subsequently, photographer Eliot Porter purchased the bell.

At the time of my visit in 2001, the lighthouse stood on private property and access to the island was carefully controlled. Only the stone lighthouse and pyramidal bell tower were left, and the automated white light of Eagle Island Lighthouse still beamed one-hundred-six feet above the bay water.

Maine - Fort Point Lighthouse

Fort Point Lighthouse is located in the Fort Point State Park, Stockton Springs, ME.  Fort Point, at the tip of Cape Jellison, forms the west side of upper Penobscot Bay, below the entrance to Penobscot River. The spot was the site of Fort Pownall, a 1759 British fortification to hinder French military movements to and from the bay. (Maine was, at that time, a part of Massachusetts).

Fort Point Lighthouse was established by order of President Andrew Jackson to aid vessels bound for Bangor, a leading lumber port. In 1837 the first wooden twenty-four foot tower was built, and nearby the keeper's quarters. Due to inferior workmanship, both buildings quickly went to pieces. In 1857 they were replaced with the current thirty-one foot brick tower, located two-hundred-fifty feet northeast of the original lighthouse. That same year, a two-story keeper's house was attached to the tower. In 1890 a bell tower was added to provide a fog signal, then in 1897 an oil house was built. At the time of my visit in 2001, all buildings still remained and the 1857 Fresnel lens was still in use. The keeper's quarters were the residence of the park ranger for Fort Point State Park, which incorporates the light station and adjacent fort grounds. The bell served until the 1960's when it was replaced by a fog horn. The bell now hangs outside its pyramidal tower as shown below.

This is one of the few remaining bell towers in ME, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower houses historic photos and is sometimes open to the public. During its use, the lighthouse keeper rigged a rope from the keeper's house to this tower so he didn't have to leave the house to ring the bell.

Maine - Dyce Head Lighthouse

The Dyce Head Lighthouse is located at Castine, ME. The original structure was a forty foot rubble-stone lighthouse on Dyce Head, a prominent height on the north side of the entrance to Castine Harbor. Excessive moisture soon wreaked havoc on the tower's interior walls, opening great cracks and seriously weakening the structure. It was entirely rebuilt in 1857-58, and lined inside with brick. The exterior was then encased in an octagonal wooden covering as a further measure against the chronic dampness, and then shingled. The protective sheath was removed after 1900.

The station survived until the 1930's when the government decided it should be replaced by a smaller white skeleton tower as an automated aid. Dyce Head Light was then deactivated in 1935 and became the property of the town of Castine. The keeper's house is now rented with the income used for maintenance of the grounds. The keeper's house was heavily damaged by fire in 1999, but restored at the time of my visit in 2001.

Maine - West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse is located at Lubec, ME. This candy-striped lighthouse stands on the eastern-most mainland point in the U.S. At certain times of the year, it is also the first spot in the country to see the morning sun. West Quoddy Head forms the western entrance to Cobscook Bay and the St. Croix River. In 1808 a rubble masonry tower was first constructed here. At forty-nine feet tall, it was as tall as any built in Maine prior to 1850. (Except the one at Portland Head, Me). The West Quoddy Head Lighthouse received one of the nation's first fog bells in 1820. However, by then the light had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it was rebuilt in 1853. Unfortunately, improper mortar was used in the job, (Not an uncommon occurrence in early lighthouse construction.) and the tower was soon in as bad a shape as ever. It was torn down then replaced in 1858 by this forty-nine foot high cast-iron structure and overlaid with brick. The West Quoddy Head Lighthouse was automated in 1988. A computerized mechanism now operates the third-order Fresnel lens flashing a white light. The light shines its beam from eighty-three feet above the water. This light station is now part of Quoddy Head State Park. At the time of my visit in 2001, the park was open to the public.

This lighthouse sits atop a high cliff and this location enables one to see the islands of Grand Manan and Campobello, NB, Canada, when the weather is clear. Grand Manan is sixteen miles long and had a population of three-thousand. The island used to belong to the United States but we swapped it for Moose Island on which Eastport Lighthouse is located.

Maine - Prospect Harbor Lighthouse

Prospect Harbor Lighthouse is located at Prospect Harbor Point at the entrance of Prospect Harbor, ME. It is the second of two lighthouses built there. The first was built in 1850 and made of rubble stone with a keeper's dwelling attached. Then in 1859, the Lighthouse Board shut down the light station after deciding the light was "not of sufficient service... to justify its maintenance." However, the Board reversed their decision in 1870 after persistent local opposition to the change.

In 1889 the tower and house were both termed "old and dilapidated" and were replaced the following year. The new thirty-eight foot tall lighthouse was placed into operation in 1891. Plans were first to build it of brick, but instead, it was a wood-framed shingled structure. The adjacent two-story dwelling, shown above, was also built of wood. The lantern room held a fifth-order Fresnel lens. In 1905 a stone oil house was added.

Prospect Harbor was one of several Maine light stations that were done away with in 1934 as an economic move. The aforementioned Fresnel lens was removed in 1951 and replaced by an automatic modern optic. At the time of my visit in 2001, the lighthouse was the grounds for a Navy Special Operations Command and the installation was off-limits to the public. I was able to get this picture using a 500mm lens, although it was very foggy that morning.

The U.S. Navy, at the time of my visit, occupied the station and also used the former keeper's house as a guest and rental spot for active and ex-military personnel and their families. During the winter of 1999-2000, Coast Guard crews replaced the lighthouse's lantern deck, re-shingled the tower's sides, and applied a fresh coat of paint to the entire structure.

Since 1989 the Navy has cooperated with local townspeople in presenting an annual light station "open house" during the Memorial Day weekend. (As of my visit in 2001) The public was invited to tour the station grounds, including the buildings, and were given rare opportunity to enter and climb a Maine lighthouse.

Maine - Marshall Point Lighthouse

The Marshall Point Lighthouse is located at Port Clyde, ME. The light stands at the southern tip of the Port Clyde peninsula and marks the east side of the entrance to Port Clyde Harbor. The station was established in 1832, following the construction of a nineteen foot rubble tower and an attached keeper's dwelling. However, in 1857 the original lighthouse, due to using the wrong kind of mortar to hold the field-stones in place, had to be taken down before it collapsed. Its replacement was this thirty-one feet, slightly taller, cylindrical structure located at the water's edge. The base of the tower was made of granite blocks, and the upper half made of brick. (This is more visible if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it). The tower was then connected to the shore via a wooden walkway supported by granite footings. At the time of my visit in 1997, the fixed white light shined from twenty-nine-and-a-half feet above the sea

The Marshall Point light station was automated in 1971, then nine years later the old keeper's quarters were boarded up and abandoned. However, in 1987 the St George Historical Society assumed responsibility for overseeing the building's restoration, and in 1990 the group opened the lower portion as the Marshall Point Lighthouse Museum.

Maine - Winter Harbor Lighthouse

This conical brick lighthouse was built in 1856 and stands on the southern end of the four-acre Mark Island, at the entrance to Winter Harbor, ME. During its seventy-seven years of operation, the tower's lantern showed a fixed white light from thirty-four feet above the sea. Operation of the light was discontinued in 1934 and the light station was closed.

Sometime later it was sold to a Bar Harbor resident. It later passed to other individuals who have maintained and used it as a seasonal home. One of these individuals was author Bernice Richmond, whose popular books Winter Harbor and Our Island Lighthouse relate many of the experiences she and her husband savored while living out the fantasy of actually owning a lighthouse.

The day I visited this lighthouse in 2001 the weather was overcast. I used a 500mm lens to get this picture because the lighthouse sets off the mainland on the island previously mentioned.

Maine - Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse

The Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse is located in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, ME. The cylindrical brick lighthouse has been an aid to mariners since 1858. Its oscillating red light shines from fifty-six feet above the southeast side of the entrance to Bass Harbor. The lighthouse tower is attached to a one-and-a-half-story wood framed keeper's house by a covered walkway. A bell tower was added in 1876, but has since been removed. The keepers house was built in 1902 and remains, though blocked from quality view by the pine trees. The original fifth-order Fresnel lens was replaced in 1902 by a fourth-order Fresnel lens which has remained in the tower. In 1974 the Bass Harbor light station was unmanned due to automation.

At the time of my visit in 1997, the keeper's house was the residence for the Coast Guard Commander, Southwest Harbor, and was not open to the public. However, paths lead down to boulders adjacent to the light station, and a walkway took me to the front of the lighthouse to enable me to get this picture. The station grounds were open daily, at that time, from 9AM to sunset all year long.

Maine - Owls Head Lighthouse

This lighthouse is located in Owls Head State Park, Owls Head, ME. This picturesque thirty feet high lighthouse sits atop the knob-like Owls Head which overlooks the south side of the entrance to Rockland Harbor. The beacon was originally installed atop a fieldstone tower built in 1825, but deteriorated badly within a few years after construction. The Light keeper Penley Haines complained in 1842. Some of what he wrote follows: "... (it) is in a state of extreme dilapidation and decay from top to bottom. The walls are crumbling to pieces, the windows and stair rotted out, and the lantern is leaky."

The current brick tower, built in 1852, stands in superior condition to the old one. The fourth order Fresnel lens shows a fixed white light from one-hundred feet above the water of Penobscot Bay. At the time of my visit in 1997, the tower and light station were maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard Service, and the former keeper's house was occupied by personnel attached to the service's Rockland base.