MAINE LIGHTHOUSES

There is no symbol of the Maine coast more stirring than the lighthouse. Whether rising tall on the mainland or on a tiny scrap of rock many miles out to sea, these beacons have guided mariners through Maine’s many rocky ledges and pea-soup fogs for more than 200 years. Maine is second only to Michigan in its number of lighthouses. More than 60 are found from Cape Neddick Light at the state’s southern tip to the West Quoddy Head Light way Down East.

Maine’s lighthouses were originally manned by a lighthouse keeper, and often by his family as well. Romantic in the telling, the life of a lighthouse keeper (especially an offshore keeper) was, in practice, lonely and fraught with responsibility and risk. Today, all Maine lighthouses are automated and monitored by the U. S. Coast Guard. Some decommissioned lighthouses are being put to novel uses. On Isle au Haut, the former Robinson Point Light is now the Keeper’s House, a four-bedroom bed-and-breakfast.

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse Boon Island Lighthouse Burnt Island Lighthouse Cape Elizabeth (Two Lights) Lighthouse Cape Neddick Lighthouse Cuckholds Lighthouse Curtis Island Lighthouse Doubling Point Lighthouse Egg Rock Lighthouse Goat Island Lighthouse Grindle Point Lighthouse Indian Island Lighthouse Kennebec River Range Lights

Lubec Channel Lighthouse Owls Head Lighthouse Perkins Island Lighthouse Portland Breakwater (Bug) Lighthouse Portland Head Lighthouse Ram Island Lighthouse Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse Squirrel Point Lighthouse West Quoddy Head Lighthouse Whaleback Lighthouse Wood Island Lighthouse