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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
      • Fort Point Lighthouse, California
      • New Point Loma Light, California
      • Old Point Loma Light, California
      • Pigeon Point Light, California
      • Point Arena Light, California
      • Point Bonita Light, California
      • Point Cabrillo Light, California
      • Point Fermin Light, California
      • Point Montara Lighthouse, California
      • Point Pinos Lighthouse, California
      • Point Reyes Lighthouse, California
      • Point Sur Light, California
      • 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
      • Plum Beach Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Point Judith Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Pomham Rocks Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Poplar Point Light, Rhode Island
      • Prudence Island Light, Rhode Island
      • Rose Island Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Southeast Lighthouse, Block Island, Rhode Island
      • Warwick Neck Lighthouse, Rhode Island
      • Watch Hill Lighthouse, Rhode Island
    • South Carolina Lighthouses
      • Morris Island Light, South Carolina
      • Hunting Island Light, South Carolina
    • Vermont Lighthouses
      • Colchester Reef Lighthouse, Vermont
      • Isle La Motte Lighthouse, Vermont
      • Windmill Point Lighthouse
    • Washington Lighthouses
      • Admiralty Head Lighthouse, Washington
      • Alki Point Lighthouse, Washington
      • Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, Washington
      • Grays Harbor Lighthouse, Washington
      • Lime Kiln Light, Washington
      • Mukilteo Lighthouse, Washington
      • North Head Lighthouse, Washington
      • West Point Lighthouse, Washington
    • Wisconsin Lighthouses
      • Wind Point Light, Wisconsin
      • North Point Lighthouse
    • New Brunswick Lighthouses
      • Gannet Rock Lighthouse, Grand Manan, New Brunswick
      • Machias Seal Island Lighthouse, New Brunswick
      • Swallowtail Lighthouse, Grand Manan
    • Nova Scotia Lighthouses
      • Cape Forchu Light, Nova Scotia
      • Georges Island Light, Nova Scotia
      • Peggys Cove Light, Nova Scotia
      • Seal Island Light, Nova Scotia
      • West Pubnico Light, Nova Scotia
    • Prince Edward Island Lighthouses
      • North Rustico Lighthouse, Prince Edward Island
    • Quebèc Lighthouses
      • Pointe à la Renommée Light, Quebec
    • Lighthouse Trips
      • 2012-06-22 Penobscot Bay Cruise, Maine
      • 2011-09-10 Boothbay Lighthouse Cruise with NELL
      • 2011-09-18 Trip to Mount Desert Rock Light
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Mount Desert Rock Lighthouse, Maine

Mount Desert Rock is one of the most isolated and lonely lighthouse stations ever built in the United States. ‘The Rock’ is only 600 yards long and 200 yards wide, it highest elevation is 20 feet above sea level and it lies 20 miles distant from the mainland in the Atlantic Ocean. It is often submerged during storms and tested the mettle of the Keepers and their families over the 150 years it was manned.
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In the fall the storms would wash all of the soil off of the Rock.  The following spring the procedure would begin all over again.
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In the fall the storms would wash all of the soil off of the Rock. The following spring the procedure would begin all over again.

DSC095791488338760Mount Desert Rock Light

  • On the way out to Mount Desert Rock Light Station.
  • Located at a point where shipping would steer for anchorage in either Frenchman’s Bay or Blue Hill Bay, Mount Desert Rock was recognized early as an important place to be marked for safe navigation.   Congress appropriated $5,000 to build a lighthouse in 1829 and a building contract was awarded to Gamaliel E. Smith.
  • The construction contract with Mr. Smith paid $2,770 and called for a dwelling with a tower to be completed by October 1829 on the exposed rock.  When October arrived only the cellar had been excavated.  Smith was dismissed from the contract and it was reassigned to Joseph Berry who had recently completed the lighthouse at Hendricks Head on Southport Island.
  • Joseph Berry began in the spring of 1830 to build a stone house with a wooden roof that had an octagonal tower on one end.  Completed in the summer of 1830 the tower used a bird cage style lantern with 6 inch by 9 inch windows.
  • The lantern housed a chandelier of 10 Argand whale oil lamps with 14 inch reflectors. The light was displayed at 56 feet above sea level and was listed with a range of 12 miles.
  • Due to the short stature of the light and the inadequate number of lamps in the lantern, Congress appropriated $15,000 in 1847 to have the lighthouse rebuilt.  The new tower of granite stone was designed by Alexander Parris who went on to design a number of granite light towers along Maine’s coast: 1839 - Saddleback Ledge Lighthouse, Maine 1847 - Mount Desert Rock Lighthouse, 1848 - Libby Island Lighthouse, Machiasport, Maine, at the entrance to Machias Bay 1848 - Matinicus Rock Lighthouse, 6 miles south of Matinicus Island, Maine 1848 - Whitehead Island Lighthouse, Whitehead Island, Maine—southern entrance to Penobscot Bay 1850 - Monhegan Island Lighthouse, Monhegan Island, Maine
  • The towers year of construction is denoted on this brass plate at the entrance door.
  • The stairs to the tower entryway
  • The 48 foot granite tower was built separate from the keepers dwelling.  The old wooden tower was removed from the stone dwelling which continued to be used as housing for the Keeper and his family.
  • The ladder into the lantern room
  • Untitled photo
  • Mount Desert Island lies 20 miles away
  • In 1857 as part of the Light House Board’s plan to install Fresnel lenses in all lighthouses, the tower was raised 10 feet and a new lantern housing a fixed 3rd Order lens was installed.
  • In 1876 a new one and ½ story frame house was built for the Keepers just south of the old stone dwelling.  In 1877 the original fog bell was replaced with a 1,000 pound bell housed in a 45 foot tower, but complaints about the ability to hear the bell over the roaring surf continued unabated.
  • Even with the improved light and fog bell wrecks continued to occur in the area.  In the 1880’s a ship named the Helen and Mary sailed from Halifax with a load of lumber and granite.  Caught in a storm, as the ship began to break up the captains wife wrapped her infant daughter in oilskins.  After the ship sank, the first mate, who was also the baby’s uncle, found the oilskin package floating in the tempest.  He pulled the wrapped baby close to him and held onto her until they were rescued the following day by the crew of the Lighthouse Tender Iris.  No one else survived the wreck of the Helen and Mary.
  • During the spring fishermen would bring bags of soil out to the Rock.  The Keepers families would place the soil in the rock crevices and plant vegetables and flowers.
  • In the fall the storms would wash all of the soil off of the Rock.  The following spring the procedure would begin all over again.
  • In 1893 the old stone dwelling was finally torn down and replaced with a wood framed Colonial duplex.  It had been constructed at the Light House Service’s Portland Depot, then taken apart and shipped to the Rock for reconstruction.  This is the dwelling which exists on the Rock today.
  • In 1895 a boat house was built to protect the Keepers boat and the winch used to haul the boat onto the island.  This building was destroyed in 2009 by Hurricane Bill.  A new boathouse has been rebuilt.
  • In 1898 the lights characteristic was changed from a fixed light to a flashing pattern.
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