LIGHTHOUSES
Maine is home to more than 70 lighthouses, nearly all of them built in the 19th century. That number is not surprising when you consider the state’s rocky coast which zigs and zags in and out creating harbor after harbor, some very narrow.
I’ve been pondering why lighthouses have such an appeal and why we like to visit them. I certainly don’t have a definitive answer, but perhaps it’s partly history and partly the novelty. Lighthouses are generally old and they remind us of a time when seafaring, sans GPS, was dangerous and fraught with potential peril. There is also the novelty of contemplating living in a tower at the edge of the sea—isolated and possibly lonely with only immediate family for company.
Over the years, we have gazed upon, but not visited up close, The Cuckolds (1892, 1907), off Cape Newagen at Southport, and Hendricks Head (1829, 1875) on the other end of Southport at the mouth of the Sheepscot River. The Cuckolds Light is now a fancy inn containing two suites. You can stay in one or rent the entire island (both suites) for a different kind of getaway that includes boat transport to and from the lighthouse!
Last summer, we took a boat out to Burnt Island in Boothbay Harbor to tour that lighthouse and its keeper’s house. This 1821 lighthouse with adjoining keeper’s house stands tall on a small patch of green. Local folks purchased it several years ago and created an education center. They now offer occasional tours for the public as well as overnight programs for school kids.
While in Portland several weeks ago, we explored Fort Williams Park with my cousins and paid homage to the iconic Portland Head Light, which dates to 1791 and guards the Portland Harbor. It’s a lovely park with native plantings and tables for picnics on the grounds.
Last week, we finally (I say finally since we’ve been coming to Maine a long time) drove over to the next peninsula and down to Pemaquid Point to visit the Pemaquid Point Light. This lighthouse was commissioned by President John Quincy Adams in 1826, opened in 1827, and then due to defects was re-built in 1835. In good weather, its light can be seen from 14 nautical miles away.
You can climb a winding narrow staircase to the top of the tower and also tour a small museum in the light keeper’s house. In the museum we saw models of fishing boats, tools and nets for fishing, an old-fashioned lobster trap and a series of lobster buoys strung up high along the wall. Fourteen lighthouse keepers served this lighthouse until it was automated in 1934. The rocks on this stretch of coast are particularly dramatic and you can understand why ships ran aground and appreciate the critical importance of the light.
Were my mother still around, I would have mailed her at least one postcard from this summer’s explorations. She appreciated architecture and was particularly interested in lighthouses and suspension bridges.
Lighthouses have such appeal that they are perennially featured on stamps. Every time a new issue of lighthouse stamps comes out I hold a few back for those special letters when nothing current is available. We recently visited the lighthouse at Pt. Reyes (West Marin County, CA). Romantic, intriguing and windy. Lighthouses are definitely my favorite postcards!