Maine Lighthouses

Greetings!

This post is coming from Connecticut. where we are from Monday (today) until Thursday.  This break from traveling gives us a chance to spend some time with Mattie's family.  We also need to do some house keeping (or in our case car keeping) and get caught up on laundry.  We have seen a lot since the last post on the Northern coast of Maine so I will be making two posts from here.  This post will feature some of the wonderful Maine lighthouses.

Last Thursday we left the Bar Harbor area in miserable (foggy, rainy) weather.  Our first lighthouse was the Owl's Head Light first lit on September 12, 1826.  We took a very soggy walk to see the lighthouse.  In fact, we heard the mournful fog horn long before we saw the light.  The conditions were quite foggy and the combination of the low horn, the fog and the position of the light added to the mood.



Not far from the Owl's Head Light is the Marshall Point Light in Port Clyde (below).  Smaller than many of the others, this 31 foot tower was built in 1823.  If it looks familiar it may be you have seen it before. It is one of the most photographed lights in Maine.  The day we were there, however, we were alone. 

The Pemaquid Light below was my favorite of the day.  It was built in 1827 for the exorbitant cost of $2800.  Faulty workmanship resulted in the light having to be rebuilt in1835.  This light is only 7 feet taller than the Marshall Point light but the rock ledge where it is located gives it a 79 foot focal plane.  In other words, from the water, it seems like it is twice as tall as it is.  

On Friday, the weather was marginally better.  The only lighthouse we saw that day was the Cape Neddick Light in York Beach.  It is also known as the Nubble Light and it was built in 1879 by the Coast Guard.  The tower is 41 feet high.  You can see in the photo below why a light is needed at this location.  

While it would have been great to see these lights at sunrise or in sunlight, I was not too disappointed in what we saw.  The worst part was tromping around in the wet conditions trying to keep the camera dry.  When we get to Florida, the camera will need to go to a camera shop for a tune up.

In the next post, I will share some of the other sights we saw Wednesday through Saturday.  Later!