Maine Lighthouses and Beyond

Introduction

I have set up this site as a means to share my photographs of lighthouses. Since retiring and finding more time to study photography, my interests have expanded a little. For some of my work other than lighthouses please enjoy my Facebook page at, John Shaw Photography. Come visit, enjoy, and 'LIKE' if you wish.

Also, for your enjoyment, I have provided a slideshow of our journey. To view it please use the link on the right under 'Site Navigation Tools'.

I sincerely hope you enjoy my efforts and use my site not only for information and education but also to provide directions for many enjoyable, inspirational visits to the beacons along our beautiful coas.

Monday, February 17, 2014

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

Red and white candy-striped West Quoddy Head Light is one of the most frequently depicted American lighthouses on calendars and posters. The picturesque lighthouse stands on the easternmost point of the United States mainland.

In 1806, a group of concerned citizens chose West Quoddy Head as a suitable place for a lighthouse to help mariners coming into the south entrance to Quoddy Roads, between the mainland and Campobello Island. According to some sources, Hopley Yeaton, an officer in the United States Revenue Cutter Service who is regarded as the father of the Coast Guard, played a role in the establishment of the station. Yeaton had retired to a farm in the area and was active in local affairs.

Congress appropriated $5000 for the light station on April 21, 1806. The contractors Beal and Thaxter built the first wooden lighthouse on the site, along with a small dwelling, in 1808. It was the first American lighthouse east of Penobscot Bay.

At one time, West Quoddy Head, like Boston Light, had a fog cannon to warn mariners away from dangerous Sail Rocks nearby. The station received one of the nation's first fog bells in 1820.
It has been said that the Bay of Fundy is where fog is manufactured, and the keeper at West Quoddy Head had plenty of extra work operating the bell. Congress decided in 1827 that "the keeper of Quoddy Head Lighthouse, in the State of Maine, shall be allowed, in addition to his present salary, the sum of sixty dollars annually, for ringing the bell connected with said lighthouse, from the time he commenced ringing said bell.

The first lighthouse was so poorly constructed that it required rebuilding by 1830. Congress appropriated $8000, and the contractor Joseph Berry rebuilt the tower in 1831 for $2350. The new rubblestone lighthouse, 49 feet tall, went into service on August 1, 1831.

The present 49-foot brick tower was erected in 1857, after a Congressional appropriation of $15,000. The new lighthouse received a third-order Fresnel lens. A one-and-one-half-story Victorian keeper's house was built at the same time.

West Quoddy Head Light's famous red and white stripes appear to have been added soon after the present tower was built. Red stripes on lighthouses were common in Canada, where it helped them stand out against snow. Only one other lighthouse in the United States -- Assateague Light in Virginia -- has horizontal red and white stripes.

The lighthouse grounds are now part of Quoddy Head State Park. In 1998, under the Maine Lights Program, the station became the property of the State of Maine. The light itself is still maintained by the Coast Guard as an active aid to navigation.

A local group, the West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association, has formed to enhance the experience of visitors to West Quoddy Head Light with exhibits and displays. A seasonal visitor center is now open in the former keeper's house.

The grounds are open to the public and trails through the park wind along the shore and past the lighthouse.

Several species of whales can sometimes be seen offshore and bald eagles nest in the area. A visit to West Quoddy Head is well worth the trip.

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse Haunted?

By Sharon Kiley Mack, BDN Staff
Posted Oct. 28, 2011, at 5:44 a.m.
Last modified Oct. 28, 2011, at 5:48 p.m.

Published in the Bangor Daily News, Oct. 29, 2011

     LUBEC, Maine — She walks the trails at West Quoddy Lighthouse State Park, stopping only to gaze out to sea. The wind billows her long Victorian dress and seaweed is draped over her shoulders. She has been seen by numerous local people and several times by a former park manager.
     The problem is, the nameless woman drowned more than a hundred years ago and her body, which was found washed up on the Lubec shore, was buried in the late 1800s two miles away at the West Quoddy Lifesaving Station.

Directions: From U.S. Route 1 at Whiting, Maine turn onto ME 189 and continue for about four miles. Turn right onto South Lubec/ Boot Cove Road (marked with a "Quoddy Head State Park" sign) and continue to a fork in the road. Bear left and continue on to the park and light station. At the entrance to the station turn right onto the road leading to the parking area. A shot trail to the left leads to the light; other trails to the right offer views of the light, cliffs, and islands.
The best light for photos is in the afternoon.

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Sunday, February 16, 2014

Lubec Channel Lighthouse

In the late 1800s, Lubec, the most northeasterly town in the United States, was an important trade and fishing port. The town later became a center of the sardine industry; it was home to 20 packing plants.

The slender channel called Lubec Narrows, between Lubec and Campobello Island, New Brunswick, was dredged in the early 1880s. The Lighthouse Board urged the funding of a lighthouse at the entrance to Lubec Narrows, which would make the channel “of value to commerce at night.” Congress appropriated $40,000 for a lighthouse in the summer of 1886.

Title to the lighthouse site was secured from the State of Maine, and borings were made in 1887 into the “tough blue clay” at the shoal. As the project progressed, it became apparent that additional funds were needed. Congress appropriated $12,000 more in 1888, and during the following year three contracts were made: one for the metalwork from Detroit, Michigan, one for Portland cement from Boston, and one for the construction of the lighthouse.

Work resumed the following April and the subfoundation was completed in June. It consisted of 185 spruce piles driven within the cylinder. Twenty-three of the piles, forming a ring around the perimeter of the cylinder, were driven to a depth of 69 feet, and the 162 interior piles were driven 35 to 45 feet into the bottom. The cylinder was sunk to a depth of six feet and leveled, and then filled with concrete.

After a final appropriation of $15,500, work was completed by the end of 1890. The lighthouse superstructure was completed by November 5, and a fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed in the lantern. A 1,200-pound fog bell, struck by machinery, was also installed.

The station went into operation on December 31, 1890, with a white flash every 15 seconds shown from 61 feet above sea level. The tower was painted brown until 1903, when it was changed to white.

In 1989 the light was to be discontinued, but local residents mounted a "Save the Sparkplug"
campaign. Automobile sparkplugs were handed out to gain attention for the cause. In 1992, a $700,000 renovation restored Lubec Channel Light to its best condition in decades. The renovation included the stabilization of the foundation, which had developed a tilt over the years. New plates were installed on the caisson and 200 cubic yards of concrete was pumped in. Twelve piles were then driven through the caisson into the bedrock. One of the piles was driven 149 feet. The lighthouse still has a six-degree list but is considered stable.

In 2006, the lighthouse was made available to a suitable new steward under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. There were no applicants, so in July 2007 it was auctioned to Gary Zaremba for a high bid of $46,000.

Directions: From the Mulholland Point Lighthouse, cross the F. D. Roosevelt International Bridge and take Rt. 189 through and south out of Lubec. Turn left onto Sothe Lubec / Boot Cove Road (marked with a "Quoddy Head State Park" sign). The Lubec Channel Light can be seen to the left about 1/3 to 1/2 mile. It can also be seen from the F.D.R Bridge or close up tour boats out of Lubec.

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Saturday, February 15, 2014

Mulholland Point Lighthouse

Mulholland Point Lighthouse was built in 1888 on the west side of Campobello to guide small coasters and freighters traveling into Cobscook and Passamaquoddy Bays through the Lubec Narrows. This route offered more shelter during foul weather than did the alternate route around the eastern side of Campobello Island.
  

This lighthouse is a wooden-framed octagonal tower 44 feet high; its basal diameter is 22 feet. The iron lantern, which sits about 60 feet above the high water line, once held a seventh order, dioptric, oil-fueled lamp. In 1962, when navigational lights were installed on the newly-built bridge that connects Lubec with Campobello Island, the lighthouse was decommissioned. The tower and adjacent shed were sold to Campobello resident Clifford Calder in 1963 after the light was discontinued. The Look family, who owned an adjacent Lobster pound, later purchased the lighthouse from Mr. Calder, and on December 4, 1984, brothers Austin, Lynn, Anthony, Shirley, and Donald Look donated the lighthouse to Roosevelt Campobello International Park in memory of Clifford Calder.

Directions: On the east side of Lubec Channel On Campobello Island, the light is easily seen from the Maine side of the channel. It can easily be reached from Lubec, Maine by taking Route 189 to the FDR Memorial Bridge. Cross the bridge into Canada and after going through Canadian Customs take a left into the park and parking area.The morning light is good for photos in the park while the afternoon light is best from Maine locations.

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Friday, February 14, 2014

East Quoddy Head Lighthouse

I have chosen to venture just beyond down east Maine to include the lighthouses on Campobello Island which geographically is much closer to the coast of Maine than to the mainland of New Brunswick, Canada. The first of those is the East Quoddy Head Lighthouse. While it is twelve miles by sea from St. Andrew's one must cross the bridge to Lubec, Maine and travel some sixty miles to St. Steven to reach Canada by land. The lighthouse is known to local residents as "Head Harbour Light".

During the Napoleonic Wars, when Britain and the United States were at economic war, the town of Eastport, Maine grew rapidly as a smuggling center. Campobello Island, on which Head Harbour Lighthouse was built also became a trade center. During the 1820s, trade flourished and traffic grew between Campobello Island and the Maine Coast. Fishing, shipping, and shipbuilding were important activities in Passamaquoddy Bay, but the famous Fundy fogs, high tides, and treacherous rocks around Campobello Islandbit into the profits and hearts of seafaring traders. Head Harbour's Light (1829) was the first Canadian response to this danger, built to warn sailors approaching the craggy rocks and shoals.

The island is probably best known as the place where former American President Franklin D. Roosevelt spent his childhood summers and contracted polio in 1921. The family "cottage" is now is now the of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, established in 1964.

Directions: Cross into Canada at Lubec, Maine and continue approximately 2.5 miles past the customs station and Roosevelt Park. Turn right at the "Y" intersection, NB 774 North. Continue on this road fro about seven miles through Wilson's Beach to Head Harbour and the light. The road (Lighthouse Road) becomes dirt shortly before ending at the parking area.

There are trails around the area, including series of iron rail stairways which make the light assessable directly at low tide only. A sign warns of rapidly changing tides and weather conditions; there is about a two-hour window to cross and return from the light without being stranded on the island for six to eight hours. The afternoon low tide period presents the best light for photographs.

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Thursday, February 13, 2014

Whitlock's Mill Lighthouse

    The city of Calais, situated midway between the equator and the North Pole, was an important lumber port in the nineteenth century. Maine’s first railroad, the Calais Railroad, chartered in 1832, carried lumber from a mill on the St. Croix River two miles to Calais. Today, although its population is less than 4,000, Calais remains the center of regional commerce.
     Beginning on July 15, 1892, a fixed red light was displayed from a lantern hung from a tree on the American side of the St. Croix River, near Calais, to serve local navigation. The 1894 annual report of the Lighthouse Board explained the rationale for the light:
     A light was needed at this place to enable the steamers, plying between Eastport and Calais, and especially towboats, to make the difficult turn at the Narrows, a few hundred yards above Whitlock’s Mill. The Canadian Government maintains two lights on the left or Canadian bank of the river, and another light was needed on the right or American bank to make the navigation safe at this difficult turn.

     By 1902, the light was displayed from a post. A proper lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling were finally constructed in 1909–10. The lighthouse is named for a local man, Colin C. Whitlock, who tended the lantern that preceded it. Whitlock also owned a mill nearby, hence the name “Whitlock’s Mill.” Local legend has it that his wife often had to tend the light, as Whitlock was said to drink to excess on many an evening.
     The interior of the 25-foot-tall lighthouse is lined with white ceramic-faced brick, a distinction shared with very few lighthouses. The tower was painted red until 1914, when it was changed to white. The L-shaped, one-and-one-half story, wood-frame dwelling, about 100 feet from the tower, has seven rooms. A small oil house was built about 300 feet from the lighthouse.
    The light was automated in 1969. In the 1970s, the station was leased to the Washington County Vocational Technical Institute. Under the Maine Lights Program, ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the St. Croix Historical Society in 1998.
     The keeper’s house and other buildings are privately owned. The property was last sold in the fall of 2004. A 1931 pyramidal wooden fog bell tower also survives at the site; the bell from the station is now on display at the St. Croix Historical Society.
    The lighthouse remains an active aid to navigation and now runs on solar power.

     Directions: The lighthouse can be viewed from the St. Croix River View Rest Area on Route 1 in Calais. The rest area, which is about five miles North of the “Saint Croix Historical Site”, is announced by a "Rest Area 1,500 ft" sign from the south. At present, the lighthouse grounds are not open to the public. Believe me I know! I tried to seek permission from the resident of the keepers house to photograph the light, the house, the bell tower, and the oil shed only to be told that she didn’t think the two rather large, very protective dogs accompanying her would let me get out of my car. She made no offer to contain them and gave no directions from where I might shoot some photos. (I'll bet she is from "away"). However, after a bit of wandering, I found the rest area where I took the above photo.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Temporary Interuption

During the process of revising this site something happened and I lost most of the photos. While I am trying to figure out what to do please go to my new Facebook page, 'John Shaw Photography' and 'LIKE' it to continue to follow my efforts including lighthouses.