Whitehead Island Lighthouse

      Prominent Whitehead Island, with its bleached, rugged granite shores, was a vital seamark for mariners long before its lighthouse was established. The 70-acre island marks the southwestern entrance to the important Muscle Ridge Channel in Penobscot Bay. The channel runs between the mainland and a dangerous archipelago of numerous islands and reefs, with Owls Head at its northeastern end. It was the favored route for the vessels that carried granite and other exports from local harbors.

     Congress appropriated $7,000 for a light station on Whitehead in March 1803.  After an appropriation of $6,000 in March 1831, the tower and dwelling were rebuilt.  In 1852, a new 41-foot lighthouse was built along with a new wooden keeper's house.  The light was automated in 1982 and the keepers were removed.   The light was converted to solar power in 2001.

    Ken D. Johnson was a Coast Guard keeper at Whitehead 1979-81. Johnson took part in a daring rescue one early December morning in 1980. The Coast Guard station at Rockland phoned Whitehead to report that a lobster boat, with two men aboard, was in danger of sinking in the harbor at Spruce Head. With the seas running eight to ten feet, the Coast Guard was unable to send out their 44-foot motor lifeboat. Instead, Johnson took out the light station's 14-foot Boston Whaler. He reached the two men and took them safely to shore. It was the last known rescue performed by a Coast Guard crew at Whitehead.

     Whitehead Light was included in the Maine Lights Program authorized by Congress and coordinated by the Island Institute of Rockland. In December 1997, the Maine Lighthouse Selection Committee announced that Whitehead Light would be transferred from the Coast Guard to Pine Island Camp, a historic boys' camp situated on Pine Island in Great Pond of the Belgrade Lakes.  The owners of Pine Island Camp, the Swan family, had bought 70 acres of Whitehead Island in 1956, and campers have been visiting the island ever since. Under a work program the campers helped restore the lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling.

     Directions:  The lighthouse is difficult to see even distantly from shore.  These photographs were taken on a cruise out of Port Clyde.  However, views from the air can seen on a trip out of Owl's Head Airport.  The best light, unfortunately is whenever the trip you select runs.

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Heron Neck Lightouse

      Heron Neck Lighthouse was constructed on the Heron Neck portion of Green Island to help guide mariners in Penobscot Bay to the safe confines of Carver’s Harbor on Vinalhaven Island. Following a Congressional appropriation of $5,000 in August of 1852, the lighthouse, consisting of a brick cylindrical tower, 30-feet high, attached to one end of a brick one-and-a-half story keeper’s dwelling was completed the following year, and the light in the tower was first exhibited on February 6, 1854.

     The Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board for 1890 recorded that "the old narrow and leaky stone deck and dilapidated lantern were replaced by an iron deck, 14 feet 6 inches in diameter, with iron railing and modern fourth-order lantern, thus putting the tower in excellent condition for many years' service.

     The report for the following year noted that the keeper's dwelling was also in need of significant repairs. "The keeper's dwelling, built when the station was established in 1853, was designed to be an excellent one, having 8-inch brick walls separated by a 2-inch air space from a 4-inch brick lining and having interior 4-inch brick partitions. It is, however, understood to have been built by contract, and so little mortar was used that many of the joints do not appear to have been filled. In driving rainstorms they received large quantities of water which keep the walls very damp and almost incessantly exudes moisture into the dwelling. The dampness of the dwelling is further increased by the character of the site, which is underlaid by a sloping ledge over which the water flows, saturating the soil surrounding the dwelling and keeping its cellar wet. From these causes the dwelling is unhealthy and it is unsuitable for occupancy in so severe a climate. It is claimed that on this account five deaths have occurred since its erection in 1853.” The brick dwelling was torn down and replaced with the present wooden dwelling in 1895. A stone oil house was added in 1903, and a boathouse and boat slip were added in 1904.

     The light’s characteristic is fixed white with a red sector. The original lens was a fifth-order Fresnel, which remained until the station was automated in 1982, when it was replaced by a 300mm lens.

     On February 17, 1911, the lighthouse tender Lilac stopped at the Heron Neck Lighthouse, where Captain Sterling went ashore to find the keeper’s widow and his son in charge of the station. The keeper had just passed away the previous day.

     Heron’s Neck is the only lighthouse known to have been equipped with a “fog-bark.” This was provided by Nemo, a Newfoundland dog that was trained by its owner, keeper Captain Levi Farnham, to bark in response to ship whistles sounding nearby on foggy nights. The Captain named the dog after the famous Captain Nemo in the Jules Verne stories.

     Although he was not listed in the government lighthouse equipment rolls, and received no budget appropriation for his maintenance and upkeep, for over three years Nemo provided an important service to ships passing by Heron Neck station. Whenever the fog rolled in, Nemo understood it was time for him to go on duty, and he faithfully trotted out to the extreme end of the neck to wait and listen for ships’ horns.

     Since sound carries well over water, and even better in a fog, the dog’s sharp ears heard ships from far enough away to be able to provide them with sufficient warning. During fair weather, boats came close to shore sounding their horns, and when Nemo came running down to greet them, threw him bits of meat and other treats as thanks for his work. 

     On April 19, 1989, a fire broke out in the keeper’s dwelling, which had been empty since the station was automated in 1982. Firefighters from Vinalhaven rushed to the scene and hauled two pumps up to the lighthouse to get seawater up the steep hill for fighting the fire. A Coast Guard vessel also arrived on scene to fight the fire, but the flames broke through the dwelling's eves, consumed the roof and caused extensive damage before the fire could be brought under control. The light tower was saved by a Halon fire suppression system.

      An investigation into the cause of the fire concluded that an electrical short in the kitchen area was the likely source. Lacking funds to restore the dwelling, the Coast Guard eventually proposed demolishing the structure. Strong public opposition to that plan sparked a discussion of alternative solutions. The Island Institute participated in this process and soon stepped in and offered to assume title to the lighthouse, auxiliary buildings, and the surrounding ten acres in exchange for restoring and maintaining the keeper's dwelling.

     The outcome of the debate over the Heron Neck Lighthouse resulted in the preservation of the dwelling, but this success was tempered by the unnecessary deterioration that occurred during the four years that elapsed between the time of the fire and the signing of an interim lease agreement. Based on this experience, the Island Institute proposed a streamlined process be developed for transferring en masse a large number of Maine lighthouses to deserving non-profits, educational institutions or government entities. The result was the creation of the Maine Lights Program, which over a two year period from 1996 to 1998 enabled the transfer of 32 lighthouses to owners capable of preserving the structures for the benefit of the public.


     The Island Institute entered into a lease agreement with a private partnership which was chosen for their previous offshore island historical restoration experience. In exchange for a multi-year lease on the property, the partnership funded the restoration on Heron Neck.

     Heron Neck Lighthouse remains an active aid to navigation. It was recently purchased and is being restored by the new owners.  They ask that their privacy be respected and that viewers not come ashore on the island by the lighthouse.  The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Saddleback Ledge Lighthouse

     Maine writer (and former lighthouse keeper) C. L. Knight once described Saddleback Ledge Light Station, one of the most remote and barren of all Maine lighthouse locations:  “Saddleback pokes its way up though the water quite precipitously for 25 to 30 feet -- a rock shaped something like its name and just large enough for the station it supports. Against it the sea rages on all sides.” 

    Saddleback Ledge is a wave-swept granite outcropping at the southern entrance to East Penobscot Bay (also known as Isle au Haut Bay), approximately four miles from the southeastern corner of Vinalhaven to the west and three miles from the southwestern coast of Isle au Haut to the east.
     In 1836, the ship Royal Tar, carrying circus performers and animals, caught fire and sank near the ledge. In March of the following year, Congress appropriated $5,000 for a lighthouse on Saddleback Ledge.

     After some debate about the location, Capt. Joseph Smith, captain of a U.S. revenue cutter, reaffirmed the ledge as the best site for a lighthouse in the vicinity:   “There is no light between Matinicus & Bakers Island, a distance of about forty miles. In viewing the coast about the Isle au Haut & the Islands in the Penobscot bay, the necessity of a light-house in that vicinity, as a guide to vessels through the eastern channel is very apparent . . . & Saddleback ledge is decidedly the best location.”

     The noted architect and engineer Alexander Parris (1780–1852) designed the tower. Parris is best remembered for designing Boston’s Quincy Market, the executive mansion of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and various buildings at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

     Construction was carried out in 1838–39. Another $10,000 was appropriated for the project in July 1838; the total cost of $15,000 made this an expensive lighthouse for its time. The lighthouse is a 43-foot-tall conical granite tower with an octagonal wrought wrought-iron lantern. 

     The high expense of the tower appears to have been justified. Engineer I. W. P. Lewis, highly critical of many lighthouses in his 1843 report to Congress, called it "the most economical and durable structure that came under my observation."  He pointed out, however, that there was "no convenience for collecting fresh water, nor any means of securing the boat -- both important omissions."

     In the early days, the four-room keeper's quarters were inside the tower. An attached wooden building was added later, sometime before 1868. The lower floor of the building was a boathouse, and two rooms for keepers were located on the second floor. Incredibly, before the attached building, the upper part of the tower was home for many years not only to the keepers themselves but their families as well.

     The first keeper was Watson Y. Hopkins, a Maine native. Hopkins moved into the lighthouse with his pregnant wife, Abigail, and seven children.  The large family was crowded into living quarters inside the lighthouse tower that consisted of a living room with a cooking stove, two bedrooms, and a cellar.
 
Hopkins painted a dismal picture of the living conditions at the lighthouse for I. W. P. Lewis's 1843 report:  “I was appointed keeper of this light, December, 1839, upon a salary of $450. I live with my family in the tower, which is the only building on the ledge. The tower is in good repair, excepting a leak in the deck on the east side, and the want of any ventilator to the kitchen smoke pipe. I am obliged to bring my water from shore, a distance of seven miles.

      There are two tanks, made of pine wood, placed in the cellar, one of which is tight and the other leaky. The lantern leaks on the east side, and sweats badly when shut close[d]. We are badly off for room to stow wood and provisions. I have been allowed a boat, but she is entirely unfit for this place, being nothing more than a small dory. I am obliged to pay freight on my supplies, on account of not having a suitable sail boat to bring them with myself.

     My family consists of nine persons. There is a living room and two chambers in the tower, besides a cellar. The copper spout carried round the tower to catch rain water has been so injured by the surf, that it is no longer of any use. The iron railing, which was secured to the rock around the tower, has been all swept away; also, the privy, which was carried away the first storm after its erection. The windows all leak in storms, the shutters having no rebates in the stone work. The fastenings of all the shutters are iron, and have corroded away."

     In September 1843, Abigail Hopkins gave birth to a baby girl at the station. A week later, a boat came to the ledge to take the mother and daughter to the mainland. During the transfer to the boat, the baby was dropped briefly into the icy waves. She was quickly plucked out of the water before any serious harm was done. The girl, Margaret Roberts Hopkins, later married William Kitteridge, a Civil War veteran. She lived to the age of 86 as one of Vinalhaven’s most beloved citizens.

     Like Boon Island and Mount Desert Rock, Saddleback Ledge has absolutely no soil. As they did at those other remote stations, the keepers at Saddleback Ledge brought soil from the mainland each spring and planted a few vegetables and flowers. The soil would inevitably be swept away by winter storms.

     Legend has it that one keeper went to get supplies from the mainland, leaving his 15-year-old son alone at Saddleback Ledge. The seas grew stormy, and it was three weeks before the keeper was able to return to the ledge. His son was exhausted, but he had managed to keep the light burning every night.

      An 1850 inspection revealed that a winter storm had exposed the base of the lighthouse to the seas. The local lighthouse superintendent wrote:  “I consider it a very dangerous place to live in, in its present condition. . . . Immediate attention should be paid to this establishment, as it is an important light-house. I would take the liberty to recommend a new lantern and lighting apparatus.”

     In 1874, the first assistant keeper, Nathaniel Bowden, assaulted the principal keeper, James H. Orcutt, and pointed a loaded revolver at his head. Needless to say, Bowden's light keeping career was soon ended.

     It was extremely difficult to land at Saddleback Ledge. In 1885, a derrick with a swinging arm was added. The arm held a bosun's chair on a hoist. This method of getting keepers and visitors on and off the rock was used for many years.

      An 1896 article in Scribner's described the visit of the lighthouse supply ship Armeria to Saddleback Ledge:  “Saddleback Ledge, as was seen last summer, was a bare rock absolutely devoid of vegetation, save for three sickly pea-vines, two hills of potatoes, and a dozen spears of oats, which, with a longing to look at something green, the keeper had coaxed into life in his trash heap, though with the certain knowledge that the first heavy gale would sweep them away.

     At this station the rocks rise so abruptly, and the break of the sea upon them is so constant, that an anchor is dropped over the stern of the freightboat, a line from her bows is made fast ashore by the light-keepers, and, as she lies thus, moored in tossing white waters, within a few feet of the sullen coast, her cargo is transferred to the Ledge by means of a stout iron derrick, securely planted in the solid rock high above her.”

     Historian Edward Rowe Snow wrote in the 1940s:  “It is a never-to-be-forgotten experience to be swung around and landed from the rocking deck of a small craft onto the hard rocky ledge, and those of us who have had that sensation do not forget it in a hurry.”

     In the 1930s, Keeper W. W. Wells reported hoisting 42 visitors ashore in a single summer day. Robert Thayer Sterling interviewed Keeper Wells for his 1935 book, Maine Lighthouses and the Men Who Keep Them. Wells described a rough day in January 1925 when his dory capsized:  “Had it not been for a local fisherman I would have gone to Davy Jones' locker. I... was trying to make a landing when a mountainous sea rushed in from the ocean, overturning my boat and sending me flying into the water. Why, it turned me upside down faster than you can say 'Jack Robinson.' I was just about to give up when George Wells, a local lobsterman, came along . . . and hauled me out of the water.”

    By the 1920s, Saddleback Ledge had become a "stag" station attended by male keepers only. Wells went on to describe life at the remote station:  “Winter we all hate the most, beginning when the summer guests have gone and the hotels on shore are closed. This means we will have to bank up the old station, get some good reading matter and snuggle down for a long period of isolation.

     The weirdest experience I have had since being in the service was the bombardment we got on a February night away back in 1927, when to my surprise I picked up 124 sea birds around the tower. There were ducks and drakes. Some were alive, but most were dead.

     Just when I thought the cannonading had ceased, one big sea drake struck the plate glass in the tower lantern and came through without asking for a transfer. When he struck he broke up the works. Before he stopped he put out the light and broke prisms out of the lens. The bird weighed 10 pounds.

     Wells was first assistant keeper at the time of this incident. The principal keeper, Andrew Dennett, was ashore taking a vacation. According to a newspaper story, the two assistants on duty worked feverishly, disregarding their own safety, until the damages had been repaired and the beacon was again sending its welcome message across the water.  According to the article, 30 sea birds were found alive around the base of the tower. The surviving birds were placed in the boathouse overnight and they went on their way next morning with satisfied honkings. The damage to the lens was reportedly visible years later.

     Wells also described the destruction done by a particularly bad storm in January 1933:
“The storm struck in the dead of night, the wind blew a sixty mile gale. With it came the seas. They struck plentiful and hard. I did not even dare to peak out the door to see what was doing... One tremendous sea that boarded us seemed to shake us like a tablecloth. I thought it was going to clean up the works. Why it didn't I haven't been able to fathom out. When daylight came and the storm subsided we ventured out to look things over. 

     Things were certainly a mess. Over 128 feet of our boat slip was torn up... and the cement breakwater built around the light to protect it, broken through in several places... It threw a 140 gallon oil tank and one boathouse door upon the winch hoist and put that out of commission... Take it altogether, it was a hummer and did lots of damage.”

     Benjamin E. Stewart was an assistant keeper in the 1930s. His daughter, Aleta Stewart Buotte, recalled those days in emails in April 2011:  “Once in a while during the summer I went back to the light with my dad. When it was a little rough I would wrap my arms around his legs. I was so afraid he would fall overboard. I had lost my mother, so he was mother and dad to me. The boat was what they called a peapod. I have great memories of my time there. 

     When we arrived at the light he would put me in a chair that was on a boom and swing me on the ledge and he'd be there to get me. I would want to fish off the rocks so my dad would tie a rope on me and the boom. One time I got myself untied and snuck up in back of the house and climbed the ladder to the bell house. My dad went to check on me and i was gone. I heard him calling and in a panic. Then he heard me giggling, so I said, "Dad, here I am." I never came so close to getting a good paddling.” 

     Another ferocious storm in March 1947 almost washed away the attached wooden building. The same storm sent the hand-wound fog bell into the ocean, never to be seen again. “We were all relieved when the bell tower washed away and the Coast Guard installed a bell buoy,” Lawrence later recalled. Alley was willing to make repairs to the station himself, but his search for tools didn’t turn up “as much as a monkey wrench,” according to a letter he wrote to the Maine Coast Fisherman.

     Albert F. “Bug” Osgood, a native of Vinalhaven, was the keeper from 1948 to 1951. Osgood, a civilian, supervised the Coast Guard crew. After Osgood was transferred to the peaceful, close-to-shore station at Curtis Island in Camden, he reported, “It gets rougher in the wash dish out there [Saddleback Ledge] than it does around here. My wife has to throw water on the windows so I can sleep.” 

     During a period of rough seas following a storm on November 25, 1951, three keepers—including Osgood and Giffin—were stranded for weeks at the station with, their food and water supplies running low. The storm had badly damaged the attached wooden building and the derrick, and it had also disrupted telephone communications. A Coast Guard plane dropped a walkie-talkie to the keepers, and the Coast Guard tug Snohomish eventually got through with supplies on December 14.

    The light was automated in late 1954. The Fresnel lens was replaced by a modern optic, and the light continued as an automatic aid to navigation. 

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Goose Rocks Lighthouse

     Goose Rocks Lighthouse was established in 1890 at the eastern entrance to the Fox Islands Thoroughfare, a busy waterway between Vinalhaven and North Haven islands. The Fox Islands, over 50 in all, were named by explorer Martin Pring after the silver foxes that were common there.

     The Goose Rocks Light is a typical "sparkplug" style cast-iron lighthouse of the era, built on a round cast-iron caisson filled with concrete. The tower, which has three stories inside, was painted red until 1903; today the caisson is painted black and the tower is white.     The light was automated in 1963. After automation, for a time there were local people, called "lamplighters," employed to control the fog signal at the lighthouse.

     The lighthouse was expected to be turned over to the town of North Haven or a local organization under the Maine Lights Program in the 1990s, but there were no applicants.

     In June 2004, it was announced that the lighthouse would be transferred to a suitable new owner.  However, the only application was rejected, so the lighthouse was sold by the General Services Administration by sealed bid. The high bidder was Beacon Preservation, Inc. of Ansonia, Connecticut. Ownership was officially transferred in November 2006.

     Goose Rocks Light remains an active aid to navigation and can be seen distantly from Vinalhaven and North Haven. You can also see it on the following cruises and scenic flights.

Cruises:

Old Quarry Ocean Adventures
Stonington, Maine 
(207) 367-8977
The Lighthouses Boat Trip provides views of 7 lighthouses: Isle au Haut, Saddleback, Brown's Head, Goose Rocks, Eagle Island, Pumpkin Island, and Deer Isle Thorofare (Mark Island).

Scenic Flights:

Penobscot Island Air 
Offering a variety of possibilities for lighthouse viewing flights from Owls Head.

     Directions:  For the best view from land, proceed on U.S. Route 1 to Rockland and take the ferry to North Haven.  Distant views can be found from one of the very few roads.  It is a very enjoyable trip during which one passes the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, the Owls Head Lighthouse and the Browns Head Lighthouse which is on Vinalhaven.  Afternoon light offers the best opportunity for photographs.

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Brown's Head Lighthouse

    Vinalhaven is a large (eight miles long) island in the middle of Penobscot Bay, about 13 miles east of Rockland. It's part of a group called the Fox Islands, after the grey foxes that once lived there in abundance. Vinalhaven was named for John Vinal, who lobbied the Massachusetts legislature (Maine was then part of Massachusetts) to incorporate the island as a town in 1789.

      Vinalhaven today is a center for fishing and lobstering, with a year-round population of 1,300 that swells to 6,000 in the summer. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Vinalhaven developed a thriving granite industry. It was the busy fishing industry and passenger-cargo shipping that led Congress and President Andrew Jackson to appropriate $4,000 for the establishment of Brown's Head Light at the island's northwest corner in 1832 to help guide mariners through the western entrance to the Fox Islands Thorofare.

      Jeremiah Berry of East Thomaston, Maine, built the original rubblestone tower -- about 22 feet tall to the base of the octagonal wrought iron lantern- -- and a rubblestone dwelling for $1800.  When the original keeper's house was in disrepair by 1857. A new 1 1/2-story wood-frame house was constructed, connected by a covered passageway to a cylindrical brick tower. 

      In 1987, Brown's Head Light became one of the last lighthouses in Maine to be automated. The bell tower was destroyed by the Coast Guard; the bell is now displayed by the Vinalhaven Historical Society.

      Under the Maine Lights Program, established by congressional legislation in 1996, the lighthouse buildings were transferred to the Town of Vinalhaven in 1998, while the light itself is maintained by the Coast Guard.

      Directions:  Take the ferry from Rockland to Vinalhaven.  Coming off the ferry, turn right and follow Main and High Streets to North Haven Road.  Turn right and continue for about ssix miles; be careful to keep track of mileage as there are no street signs or markers to the light.  Look for a group of mailboxes at the intersection with a dirt road (Crockett River Road); turn left onto that road, then right at the second dirt road to the right.  There is a small sign pointing to the lighthouse. n Pass a small cemetery to on the right.  There is a small parking area at the light.  Please respect the privacy of the inhabitants of the house.

     The easiest way to get good views from the water is to take the ferry from Rockland to North Haven.  I passes directly Browns Head.  From that vantage point, afternoon light might be best for photography.

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Owls Head Lighthouse

     In October 2006, Coastal Living magazine proclaimed Owls Head Light number one among America’s haunted lighthouses, and there’s no shortage of stories to back up that claim. The lighthouse was also featured in a documentary on haunted lighthouses on the Travel Channel.

      Andy Germann was the Coast Guard keeper for a few years in the mid-1980s. His wife, Denise, later told the Bangor Daily News about a particular night when her husband went outside to secure some construction materials; the tower and house were undergoing some renovations at the time. Denise rolled over and then felt her husband get back into bed, or so she thought. “How’d you make out outside?” she asked, but there was no reply. When she turned over, she saw the “indentation of a body” next to her. The indentation was moving, as if an invisible person was shifting in the bed. “I’m a pretty practical person,” she says. “I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. I’m positive it wasn’t a dream.”   The next morning, Andy Germann told his wife that when he had gotten out of bed the night before to go outside, he saw a “cloud of smoke hovering over the floor.” The cloud, he said, went right through him and into the bedroom. Just after that, Denise had her encounter with the “indentation.”

     Debbie Graham, who lived at the station in 1987-88 with her husband, Gerard and their young daughter, Claire, says that the Germanns warned her and her husband about the resident ghost when they moved in. The Grahams didn’t take the warning seriously, and they chose an upstairs room that the Germanns had said was particularly “active” to be Claire’s bedroom.

     For the entire time that the Grahams lived at the lighthouse, Claire had an imaginary friend she later described as looking like an “old sea captain.” Once, in the middle of the night, Claire came into her parents’ room excitedly telling them, “Fog’s rolling in! Time to put the foghorn on!” Nobody had ever spoken of such things in front of her, and the Grahams were mystified by Claire’s use of such jargon. 

      Another common occurrence was the appearance of footprints in the snow, seemingly beginning from nowhere and leading up the wooden stairs that lead to the lighthouse tower. According to the historian William O. Thomson, on some occasions the keepers would find the door to the tower open, with the lens and brass inside freshly polished.

     Nobody is quite sure how Owl's Head got its name. Some say the picturesque promontory resembles an owl from the water, but it takes great imagination to see anything of the sort. Some say Owl's Head is the English translation of the Indian name for the spot, Medadacut.

     When Owl's Head was visited by Samuel de Champlain in 1605, it was known as Bedabedec Point, an Indian word meaning "Cape of the Winds." The village called Owl's Head became a town in 1921; it had previously been part of South Thomaston.

     The growing lime trade in nearby Rockland and Thomaston led to the establishment of a light station at Owl's Head, at the entrance to Rockland Harbor. President John Quincy Adams authorized the building of Owl's Head Light in 1825.

     A tall lighthouse was not necessary because of the height of the promontory. The light is exactly 100 feet above sea level. Although many sources claim that the 1825 tower still stands, the present lighthouse replaced the original one in 1852. 

      One of the most memorable events in the history of Owl's Head Light took place during the storm of December 22, 1850. Five vessels went aground in this storm between Rockland Harbor and Spruce Head. At nearby Jameson's Point, a small schooner from Massachusetts was anchored. The captain had gone ashore, leaving the mate, Richard B. Ingraham, a seaman named Roger Elliott, and one passenger, Lydia Dyer, who was engaged to Ingraham. The packet was to start for Boston the next morning.

      Near midnight the storm intensified. The cables holding the vessel snapped and the schooner headed across the Penobscot Bay toward Owl's Head. It quickly smashed into the rocky ledges south of the lighthouse. The three on board huddled together on the deck and were soon practically frozen in the surf. They pulled blankets around themselves in an effort to stay dry.

     As the schooner broke apart, Elliott escaped the vessel and managed to climb over the ice-covered rocks to the shore. Practically dead from exhaustion, he reached the road to the lighthouse. The keeper happened to be driving by in a sleigh, and he took the dazed Elliott to the keeper's house where he gave him hot rum and put him in bed. Barely able to speak, Elliott was able to tell the keeper about the others still on the schooner. A dozen men were rounded up, and they headed for the shore.

     The rescue party soon found the schooner and got on board. There they found a block of ice enveloping Ingraham and Dyer. From all appearances the couple was dead, but the rescue party was determined to leave nothing to chance. The men brought the block to the kitchen of the keeper's house. They chipped the ice away, keeping the pair in cold water. Then they slowly raised the temperature of the water and began to exercise the limbs of the victims. After almost two hours of this massaging and exercising, Lydia Dyer showed signs of life. An hour later Ingraham opened his eyes and said, "What is all this? Where are we?"

     By the next day Dyer and Ingraham were able to eat, but it was months before they were fully recovered. They eventually married and had four children. Roger Elliott never fully recovered, but his struggle to reach safety had resulted in the rescue of the other two. Lydia Dyer and Richard Ingraham will always be celebrated as the "Frozen Couple of Owl's Head."

 Owl's Head Lighthouse Video

     The tower was rebuilt in 1852, and a new wood-frame one-and-one-half-story dwelling was finally built in 1854.  The bell tower is gone, but an 1895 oil house remains. The wooden ramp and stairway leading to the tower are unique among New England lighthouses.

     One of the most beautiful lighthouses in Maine from land or water, Owl's Head Light is a must-visit for the lighthouse fan. The grounds at Owl's Head Light State Park are open daily; there is a large parking area and a moderate walk to the lighthouse.

     The lighthouse can also be seen from the Rockland - Vinalhaven ferry and from various excursion boats out of Rockland, Rockport and Camden.

     Directions:  From U.S. Route 1 in Thomaston/Rockland, turn south onto ME 73 and continue about two miles, turning left onto North Shore Drive.  Go about 2.56 miles, turning left just past the Owl’s Head post office, onto Main Street.  Continue to Lighthouse Road and turn left; the road becomes a dirt road and leads to a parking and picnic area.  A short walk takes you to the lighthouse.  The best light for photographs is in the early morning.

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Rockland Harbor Southwest Lighthouse

     Rockland Harbor Southwest Light is Maine's newest lighthouse and the only privately built lighthouse in New England to become an official aid to navigation.

     Dr. Bruce Woolett's love of lighthouses began when he was a boy. Years later, the Maine dentist had a house built in Owl's Head and during construction he stayed at his adopted grandparents' house. The flash of Rockland Breakwater Light entered his bedroom each night, inspiring Dr. Woolett to build his own lighthouse.

      The lighthouse was built between 1981 and 1987. The $14,000 structure was finished in November 1987 and equipped with an electric marine lens. With the help of Ken Black of Rockland's Shore Village Museum, the Coast Guard was convinced to recognize Rockland Harbor Southwest Light as an official aid to navigation marking dangerous Seal Ledge. It is now maintained as a private aid to navigation.

      John J. Gazzola purchased the property from Dr. Woolett in May 1998. According to Mr. Gazzola, "Much of the location has been extensively renovated including the lighthouse: new exterior wood shingle siding, combination storm sash with shutters, new doors both entrance and light level to exterior platform, also landscaping, interior first floor reading room, second floor bedroom, two watch bunks within tower to light level, new electrical wiring, insulation interior and exterior painting and other changes including a revised C.G. Light List # to 4140 from 4070."

     Directions:  Take U.S. Route 1 to Thomaston, turning south onto Me. 73.  Continue about one mile past a “Welcome to Owls Head” sing and turn left to North Shore Drive then continue east about 0.5 mile to FR C230 (a narrow dirt road marked with a small sign).  The lighthouse is at the end of the lane, but bear in mind that it is a private residence.  The above photographs were taken from a beach reached by kayak out of respect for the owner's privacy.

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Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse

     The limestone industry thrived in midcoast Maine for about two centuries. After it was quarried, the stone was heated in kilns and converted to lime, an important ingredient in building construction. Lime export combined with shipbuilding, fishing and fish processing, granite quarrying, ice harvesting, and steamship transportation to make Rockland's spacious harbor one of the busiest on the Maine coast.

     Between 1881 and 1899, a granite breakwater, almost a mile long, was built to help protect the harbor. The Bodwell Granite Company used around 700,000 tons of granite for the project, which cost more than three quarters of a million dollars.

      As the work progressed, a small moveable beacon was moved farther out each time the breakwater was extended. The light was relocated four times between 1888 and 1895.  Finally, in 1902, a permanent lighthouse was built at the breakwater's end after a Congressional appropriation of $30,000.

     The lighthouse consisted of a wood-frame keeper's house attached to a brick fog signal building surmounted by a 25-foot brick tower. The interiors of the fog signal building and lighthouse tower were lined with ceramic-faced brick.

      Rockland Breakwater Light was automated in 1965 and the keepers were removed.  The Coast Guard announced that they were going to destroy the structure. A public outcry led to the nearby Samoset Resort taking some responsibility for the upkeep of the building, after the City of Rockland turned down the property.

     In 1989, the resort relinquished its responsibilities for the lighthouse. The Rockland City Council applied for the property in 1998 under the Maine Lights Program.

      The goal, said the Rockland City Council, is "to protect and preserve our own history to increase the access to this historic structure for our own citizens and visitors to the history of our region and that of the Breakwater Light." Rockland Breakwater Light is on Rockland's emblem and letterhead.

      The Maine Lighthouse Selection Committee approved the transfer of Rockland Breakwater Light to the City of Rockland in 1998. The Friends of the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, was established, and a lease was signed with the city in 2001. The Friends have been gradually restoring the building, inside and out.

     A float and ramp were installed in August 2003. The Rockland Festival Committee donated the float, allowing easier access for both people working on the restoration as well as visitors who can't walk the breakwater.

     Open houses are held at the lighthouse from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., every Saturday and Sunday from the end of May to the middle of October. The walk to the lighthouse is a pleasant one on a nice day, but in rough weather waves sometimes lap over the granite blocks.

     Directions:  From U.S. Route 1, turn onto Waldo Avenue (“Samoset Resort” sign).  continue for abour 0.5 mile, turning right onto Samoset road.  The road ends at a parking area.  The breakwater, to the left of a small park area, leads abot 0.8 mile to the light house.  The best views for photographing the lighthouse are from the water. The ferries from Rockland to Vinalhaven and North Haven pass close by, as do many excursion boats and schooners from Rockland, Camden and Rockport.

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Indian Island Lighthouse

     Rockport Harbor was a center for shipbuilding and the export of lime in the mid-1800s. Indian Island, at the east entrance to the harbor, was named because local Native Americans took refuge there during the French and Indian War. The island was sold to the U.S. government for a light station by Silas Piper for $25 in 1849, and Congress appropriated $3,500 for a lighthouse.

     Established in 1850, the first lighthouse consisted of a lantern mounted on the roof of the keeper's house. The light was discontinued in 1859, but it was reactivated and a new lighthouse tower was built in 1875 for $9,000. The station consists of a square brick tower attached to the original 1 1/2-story T-shaped keeper's house.

     Indian Island Light was discontinued in 1934 and replaced by an automatic light on nearby Lowell Rock. The lighthouse property has been privately owned ever since.

    Directions:  In Rockport at the intersection of U.S. 1and ME 90, turn east onto West Street.  Continue to Pascals Avenue and turn left, crossing the Goose River Bridge.  Turn around a recross the bridge bearing left into the Rockport Marine Park.  The beautifully maintained lighthouse can be seen from there and other spots on shore, but it is best viewed from schooners and other excusion boats out of Rockport and Camden.

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