Portland Head Light
Interesting facts
- George Washington told the builders to use stone gathered from the nearby fields and shore, hauled by oxen, because the young government had little money.
- On reaching the planned 58 feet, the masons climbed up and saw the light would be hidden by headlands to the south, so they added 20 feet.
- In 1790 Congress set aside no more than $1,500 to finish the tower, and Alexander Hamilton, as Treasury Secretary, told the builders to carry on.
- The first keeper, Joseph Greenleaf, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, initially received no salary, only the right to live there, fish and farm.
- At first the light came from sixteen whale-oil lamps; a Fresnel lens was not installed until 1855.
- The tower was shortened in 1883 because the new Halfway Rock Light seemed to make it less important, but mariners' complaints restored its height two years later.
- When the Annie C. Maguire struck the rocks on Christmas Eve 1886, the keeper and his son laid a ladder across the ledges to bring everyone ashore.
- Father and son of the Strout family kept the light continuously from 1869 to 1928, a combined 59 years.
- Edward Hopper painted the lighthouse in 1927, and his watercolour now hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
- Scenes of the film Snow Falling on Cedars were shot here during the ice storm of January 1998, and the tower later played a secret base in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Why it is worth it
Portland Head Light is the lighthouse New England puts on its postcards, and it earns the place. A white conical tower rises from a ledge of dark rock at the entrance to Portland Harbor, with the keepers' house beside it and the Atlantic breaking on the rocks below. From the lawns and paths of the surrounding park, the composition changes with every few steps — tower against open sea, tower above the surf, tower seen across the grounds of the old fort — which is why it has been painted and photographed so often.
It is the oldest lighthouse in Maine and among the first completed by the young United States: work began in 1787, George Washington directed its completion with money appropriated by Congress, and the light was first lit on 10 January 1791. The tower has a long history of growing and shrinking: planned at 58 feet, raised by 20 feet while it was still being built, raised again during the Civil War, cut down by 20 feet in 1883, and restored to full height two years later. Today it stands about 80 feet above the ground, with its light 101 feet above the water and visible for some 24 nautical miles. The rocks have seen their share of drama: in 1886 the barque Annie C. Maguire ran aground right below the light, and everyone aboard reached shore safely.
The keepers' house was built in 1891 and now holds a small museum of lenses and lighthouse history, owned, like the grounds, by the town of Cape Elizabeth. The light was automated in August 1989, when the last keeper, Davis Simpson, left the station. The lighthouse stands inside Fort Williams Park, the grounds of a former coastal-defence fort, and the park's paths along the shore make it easy to watch the tower through a whole day's changing light. The tower has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.
Getting there
Portland Head Light is in Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth, about 3.5 km from South Portland and a short drive from the centre of Portland, Maine. Portland International Jetport (PWM) is about 9 km away. The park's shore paths lead right up to the lighthouse.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a headland at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor, which is within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. Completed in 1791, it was the first lighthouse built by the U.S. government and is the oldest lighthouse in Maine. The light station is automated, and the tower, beacon, and foghorn are maintained by the United States Coast Guard, while the former lighthouse keeper's house is a maritime museum within Fort Williams Park.
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