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    • Maine Lighthouses
      • Baker Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Blue Hill Bay Light, Maine
      • Boon Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Browns Head Lighthouse, Vinalhaven, Maine
      • Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse, Swans Island, Maine
      • Burnt Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Cape Elizabeth Light, Maine
      • Cape Neddick (the Nubble) Light, Maine
      • Cuckolds Light, Maine
      • Curtis Island Light, Maine
      • Deer Island Thorofare Light, Maine
      • Doubling Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Dyce Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Eagle Island Light, Maine
      • Egg Rock Lighthouse, Maine
      • Fort Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Franklin Island Light, Maine
      • Goat Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Goose Rocks Lighthouse, Maine
      • Great Duck Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Grindle Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Halfway Rock Lighthouse, Maine
      • Hendricks Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Heron Neck Lighthouse, Maine
      • Indian Island Light, Maine
      • Kennebec River Range Lights, Maine
      • Libby Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Little River Lighthouse, Maine
      • Lubec Channel Lighthouse, Maine
      • Marshall Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Matinicus Rock Light, Maine
      • Monhegan Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Moose Peak Lighthouse, Maine
      • Mount Desert Rock Lighthouse, Maine
      • Narraguagus Island Light, Maine
      • Nash Island Light, Maine
      • Owls Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Perkins Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Petit Manan Lighthouse, Maine
      • Pond Island Light, Maine
      • Popham Beach Life Saving Station
      • Portland Breakwater Lighthouse, Maine
      • Portland Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Prospect Harbor Lighthouse, Maine
      • Pumpkin Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Ram Island Ledge Light, Maine
      • Ram Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Robinson Point Lighthouse on Isle Au Haut, Maine
      • Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, Maine
      • Rockland Harbor Southwest Light, Maine
      • Saddleback Ledge Light, Maine
      • Seguin Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Southern Island Light, Maine
      • Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, Maine
      • Squirrel Point Lighthouse, Maine
      • Two Bush Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, Maine
      • Whaleback Light, Maine
      • Whitehead Island Lighthouse, Maine
      • Winter Harbor Lighthouse, Maine
      • Wood Island Lighthouse, Maine
    • California Lighthouses
      • Alcatraz Light, California
      • Battery Point Lighthouse, California
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      • New Point Loma Light, California
      • Old Point Loma Light, California
      • Pigeon Point Light, California
      • Point Arena Light, California
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      • Point Montara Lighthouse, California
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      • Point Vicente Light, California
      • Santa Cruz Light, California
      • Table Bluff Lighthouse, California
      • Trinidad Head Memorial Light, California
    • Connecticut Lighthouses
      • Avery Point Lighthouse
      • Faulkners Island Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Fayerweather Island Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Five Mile Point Light, Connecticut
      • Great Captain Island Lighthouse
      • Latimer Reef Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Lynde Point Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Morgan Point Lighthouse, Connectitcut
      • Mystic Seaport Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • New London Harbor Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • New London Ledge Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Penfield Reef Lighthouse
      • Race Rock Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Sheffield Island Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Stamford Harbor Lighthouse
      • Stonington Harbor Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Stratford Point Lighthouse, Connecticut
      • Stratford Shoal Lighthouse
      • Tongue Point Lighthouse
    • Delaware Lighthouses
      • Harbor of Refuge Light, Delaware
      • Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse, Delaware
      • Fenwick Island Lighthouse
      • Liston Rear Range Light
      • Overfalls Lightship, Delaware
      • Mispillion Lighthouse, Delaware
      • Reedy Island Rear Range Light
      • Marcus Hook Rear Range Light
    • Florida Lighthouses
      • Amelia Island Lighthouse, Florida
      • American Shoal Lighthouse, Florida
      • Cape Canaveral Light, Florida
      • Cape Florida Lighthouse, Florida
      • Crooked River Lighthouse
      • Faro Blanco Light, Florida
      • Garden Key Lighthouse, Florida
      • Gasparilla Island Lights, Florida
      • Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse, Florida
      • Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse
      • Key West Lighthouse, Florida
      • Loggerhead Key Lighthouse, Florida
      • Pensacola Lighthouse
      • Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, Florida
      • Sand Key Lighthouse, Florida
      • Sanibel Island Lighthouse, Florida
      • St. Augustine Lighthouse, Florida
      • St. John's River Lighthouse, Florida
      • St. Marks Lighthouse, Florida
      • Sombrero Key Lighthouse
    • Georgia Lighthouses
      • St. Simons Island Lighthouse, Georgia
      • Tybee Island Lighthouse, Georgia
    • Hawai'i Lighthouses
      • Diamond Head Lighthouse, O'ahu, Hawai'i
      • Kilauea Point Lighthouse, Kaua'i, Hawai'i
      • Lahaina Harbor Lighthouse, Mau'i, Hawai'i
      • Makapu'u Light, Oahu, Hawai'i
      • Moloka'i Lighthouse, Moloka'i, Hawai'i
    • Illinois Lighthouses
      • Grosse Point Light, Illinois
    • Indiana Lighthouses
      • Michigan City Light, Indiana
    • Louisiana Lighthouses
      • New Canal Lighthouse, Louisiana
    • Maryland Lighthouses
      • Baltimore Light, Maryland
      • Chesapeake Lightship, Maryland
      • Concord Point Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Cove Point Light, Maryland
      • Choptank River Lighthouse
      • Drum Point Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Fishing Battery Light, Maryland
      • Hooper Strait Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Piney Point Light, Maryland
      • Point Lookout Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Sandy Point Light, Maryland
      • Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, Maryland
      • Turkey Point Lighthouse, Maryland
    • Massachusetts Lighthouses
      • Annisquam Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Baker's Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Bass River Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Bird Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Brant Point Lighthouse, Nantucket
      • Butler Flats Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Boston Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Cape Poge Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Chatham Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Clark's Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Deer Island Light, Massachusetts
      • Derby Wharf Light, Massachusetts
      • Dog Bar Breakwater Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Duxbury Pier Light, Massachusetts
      • East Chop Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Eastern Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Gay Head Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Graves Light, Massachusetts
      • Great Point Lighthouse, Nantucket, Massachusetts
      • Highland Lighthouse, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
      • Hospital Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Lewis Bay Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Marblehead Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Mayo's Beach Lighthouse
      • Minots Ledge Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Monomoy Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Nantucket Lightship, Massachusetts
      • Nauset Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Ned's Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Newburyport Harbor Range Lights, Massachusetts
      • Nobska Point Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Palmer Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Plum Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Plymouth Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Race Point Lighthouse, Cape Cod Massachusetts
      • Sandy Neck Lighthouse
      • Sankaty Head Lighthouse
      • Scituate Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Stage Harbor Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Straitsmouth Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Tarpaulin Cove Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Ten Pound Island Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Thacher Island Twin Lights, Massachusetts
      • Three Sisters of Nauset Lighthouses, Massachusetts
      • West Chop Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Wings Neck Lighthouse, Massachusetts
      • Winter Island Lighthouse
      • Brant Point Lighthouse, Nantucket MA
    • New Hampshire Lighthouses
      • Isles of Shoals Light, New Hampshire
      • Portsmouth Harbor Light, New Hampshire
    • New Jersey Lighthouses
      • Absecon Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Barnegat Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Brandywine Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Cape May Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Chapel Hill Rear Range Light, New Jersey
      • Conover Beacon Front Range Light, New Jersey
      • East Point Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Finns Point Lighthouse
      • Fourteen Foot Bank Light, New Jersey
      • Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, North Wildwood, New Jersey
      • Miah Maull Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Sandy Hook Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Sea Girt Lighthouse, New Jersey
      • Ship John Shoal Light, New Jersey
      • Twin Lights of Navesink, New Jersey
      • Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse, New Jersey
    • New York Lighthouses
      • Ambrose Lightship, New York
      • Big Sodus Light, New York
      • Blackswell Island Light, New York
      • Buffalo Main Lighthouse, New York
      • Cape Vincent Breakwater Lighthouse, New York
      • Clayton Memorial Lighthouse, New Yrok
      • Coney Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Crossover Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Dunkirk Light, New York
      • Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, New York
      • Execution Rocks Lighthouse, New York
      • Fire Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Horton Point Light, New York
      • Montauk Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Ogdensburg Harbor Lighthouse, New York
      • Old Field Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Rock Island Lighthouse, New York
      • Rondout Creek Lighthouse, New York
      • Saugerties Lighthouse, New York
      • Selkirk Lighthouse, New York
      • Sister Islands Lighthouse, New York
      • Staten Island Light, New York
      • Stepping Stones Lighthouse
      • Stony Point Lighthouse, New York
      • Sunken Rock Lighthouse, New York
      • Tarrytown Lighthouse, New York
      • Tibbetts Point Lighthouse, New York
    • North Carolina Lighthouses
      • Bodie Island Light, North Carolina
      • Ocracoke Light, North Carolina
      • Cape Hatteras Light, North Carolina
    • Ohio Lighthouses
      • Fairport Harbor Light, Ohio
      • Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light, Ohio
      • Marblehead Light, Ohio
    • Oregon Lighthouses
      • Cape Meares Light, Oregon
      • Cleft of the Rock Light, Oregon
      • Coquille River Lighthouse, Oregon
      • Heceta Head Light, Oregon
      • Umpqua River Light, Oregon
      • Yaquina Bay Light, Oregon
      • Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Oregon
    • Pennsylvania Lighthouses
      • Presque Isle Lighthouse, Pennsylvania
      • Presque Isle North Pierhead Light, Pennsylvania
      • Turtle Rock Lighthouse
    • Rhode Island Lighthouses
      • Beavertail Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Bristol Ferry Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Castle Hill Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Conanicut Island Light, Rhode Island
      • Conimicut Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Dutch Island Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Goat Island Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Hog Island Shoal Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Ida Lewis Rock Light, Rhode Island
      • Nayatt Point Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • North Lighthouse, Block Island, Rhode Island
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      • Point Judith Lighthouse, Rhode Island
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      • Poplar Point Light, Rhode Island
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      • Rose Island Lighthouse, Rhode Island
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    • South Carolina Lighthouses
      • Morris Island Light, South Carolina
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      • Colchester Reef Lighthouse, Vermont
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      • Admiralty Head Lighthouse, Washington
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      • Wind Point Light, Wisconsin
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    • New Brunswick Lighthouses
      • Gannet Rock Lighthouse, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
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    • Nova Scotia Lighthouses
      • Cape Forchu Light, Nova Scotia
      • Georges Island Light, Nova Scotia
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      • West Pubnico Light, Nova Scotia
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      • North Rustico Lighthouse, Prince Edward Island
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      • Pointe à la Renommée Light, Quebec
    • Lighthouse Trips
      • 2012-06-22 Penobscot Bay Cruise, Maine
      • 2011-09-10 Boothbay Lighthouse Cruise with NELL
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Matinicus Rock Light, Maine

Twenty miles from the mainland lies a 39 acre collection of volcanic rock marking the entrance to Penobscot Bay from the ocean. Matinicus Rock was named after its neighbor 6 miles to the north, Matinicus Island. The Rock was first recorded in the nautical charts of Captain John Smith in 1614.
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The first lights on Matinicus Rock were two wooden towers built 40 feet apart.  Connecting them was a stone keepers dwelling.  Each tower was equipped with a fixed white light produced by 14 whale oil lamps with 21 inch reflectors.  This denoted Matinicus Rock Light’s importance as a primary seacoast light.
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The first lights on Matinicus Rock were two wooden towers built 40 feet apart. Connecting them was a stone keepers dwelling. Each tower was equipped with a fixed white light produced by 14 whale oil lamps with 21 inch reflectors. This denoted Matinicus Rock Light’s importance as a primary seacoast light.

1004616Matinicus

  • Matinicus Rock along with Monhegan Island and Mount Desert Rock form a line of sea marks used by ocean sailors heading for Penobscot Bay.  In 1827 President John Quincy Adams authorized construction of the first lights on Matinicus Rock.  To differentiate Matinicus from the light on Monhegan Island, which was established in 1824, the decision was made to build twin lights.
  • The first lights on Matinicus Rock were two wooden towers built 40 feet apart.  Connecting them was a stone keepers dwelling.  Each tower was equipped with a fixed white light produced by 14 whale oil lamps with 21 inch reflectors.  This denoted Matinicus Rock Light’s importance as a primary seacoast light.
  • The First Keeper appointed to Matinicus Rock was John A. Shaw who was chosen over 6 other applicants.  Shaw, who was age 65 at the time of his appointment, and his wife moved into the Keepers dwelling and lit the lamps on July 15, 1827.  Shaw served at Matinicus until March 1831 when he was taken to the mainland due to illness.  He died in a Portland hospital a month later at age 69.
  • Abner Knowles served as a replacement until the arrival of Phineas Spear later in 1831.  Spear also became sick and was removed to the mainland in April 1834 where he passed away.  Life on the Rock was both dangerous and unhealthy as fierce storms and cold would batter the station and water would inundate the buildings.
  • **The South Tower** An inspection by I.W.P. Lewis in 1833 found the lights strength inferior and the buildings leaky.  In 1846 Congress appropriated $11,000 to have the station rebuilt.  The architect of several Maine granite towers, Alexander Parris of Boston, was hired to design two new beacons.
  • The new rectangular Keepers dwelling was two stories tall and built of granite.  Granite towers were built onto each end of the dwelling.  The new towers, although more sturdy than their predecessors, drew complaints from mariners.  At a distance and at certain angles the two fixed lights blended together making identification difficult.
  • In 1853 Samuel Burgess accepted the position of Keeper and moved his invalid wife and four of his children to Matinicus Rock.  His daughter Abbie who was 14 served as an assistant to her father.  In January 1856 Keeper Burgess left for the mainland to obtain medicine for his wife and other supplies.  Soon after the Keepers departure a great winter gale began to blow and inundate the Rock with water.  Abbie was alone to care for her mother and the children.
  • The high seas prevented Keeper Burgess from returning to the station.  Abbie moved her family into the north lighthouse tower believing it to be the strongest structure on the Rock.  Shortly after rescuing her pet chickens from their coop, a wave broke over the Rock destroying the old keepers’ house as well as the chicken coop.  Abbie single-handed kept the lights burning for four weeks until her father could land on the Rock.
  • Keeper Burgess was replaced for political reasons in 1861 when Abraham Lincoln assumed the Presidency.  Abbie remained at the Rock to train the new Keeper John Grant and his assistant, his son Isaac.  Abbie and Isaac fell in love and were soon married.  Abbie remained at Matinicus Rock to serve as an Assistant Keeper and raised four children.  She and Isaac were appointed to Whitehead Island Light in 1875.  The Coast Guard has honored the memory of Abbie Burgess by naming a keeper-class tender after her which has a home port of Rockland, Maine.
  • **The old Matinicus Fog Bell on Display at the Maine Lighthouse Museum** Fog has always been a nemesis of the Matinicus Rock Light Station with an average of 1,800 hours of fog annually.  In 1855 a 1,800 pound fog bell was installed but was found to be ineffective.  A steam whistle replaced the bell in 1869.
  • In order to address mariners complaints, in 1857 the Light House Board capped the 1846 towers and constructed new granite 48 foot towers located 180 feet apart.  Each tower was outfitted with a 3rd Order Fresnel lens which increased visibility to 23 miles. On July 1, 1883 the north light was extinguished and the south light was changed to a fixed red characteristic.  This change was unpopular and the lights were restored to their original fixed characteristics on July 1, 1888.
  • **The North Tower** In 1924 the Bureau of Lighthouses finally decided to discontinue the north tower.  The lantern room was removed and the tower was capped.  The south tower was changed to alternate single and double white flashes every 15 seconds.
  • **Third Order lens from Matinicus Rock Light on display at the Maine Lighthouse Museum** Just before Christmas 1983 the Coast Guard decided to distaff the light.  The Fresnel lens was removed from the south tower and replaced with a pair of 24 inch aerobeacons powered by 1,000 watt bulbs.  This was replaced in 1993 with a VRB-25 solar powered optic.  On March 14, 1988 the Light Station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  • In 1998 the Matinicus Rock Light Station was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Maine Lights Program.  The National Audubon Society uses the Keepers dwelling for research on the islands bird population.  Matinicus Rock is the southernmost nesting site of the Atlantic Puffin and the Common Murre.
  • An old postcard view of the Matinicus Rock Lights
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