Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in

Cape Elizabeth, Maine Cape Elizabeth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The town is part of the Portland– South Portland– Biddeford, Maine, metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, Cape Elizabeth had a population of 9,53 ...

. The light station sits on a head of land at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Harbor, which is within

Casco Bay Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its s ...

in the

Gulf of Maine , image = , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry = GulfofMaine2.jpg , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = Major features of the Gulf of Maine , location = Northeast coast of the ...

. Completed in 1791, it is the oldest lighthouse in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. The light station is automated, and the tower, beacon, and foghorn are maintained by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

, while the former

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

s' house is a maritime museum within

Fort Williams Park Fort Williams Park is a 90-acre park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, encompassing numerous historical sites. Perhaps most famous for having Portland Head Light on its grounds, the park also encompasses the decommissioned and largely demolished Unite ...

History

Construction began in 1787 at the directive of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, and was completed on January 10, 1791, using a fund of $1,500, established by him.

Whale oil Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Whale oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' (" tear" or "drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil obtained from the head ...

lamps were originally used for illumination. In 1855, following formation of the Lighthouse Board, a fourth-order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

was installed; that lens was replaced by a second-order Fresnel lens, which was replaced later by an

aerobeacon An aerobeacon is a light assembly used to create a fixed or flashing signal visible over long distances. It consists of a high intensity electric lamp mounted with a focusing device in a cylindrical housing, which usually is rotated on a vertical ...

in 1958. That lens was replaced with a

DCB-224 An aerobeacon is a light assembly used to create a fixed or flashing signal visible over long distances. It consists of a high intensity electric lamp mounted with a focusing device in a cylindrical housing, which usually is rotated on a vertical ...

aerobeacon in 1991. The DCB-224 aerobeacon is still in use. PortlandHeadLightLens

In 1787, while Maine was still part of the state of

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, George Washington engaged two masons from the town of Falmouth (modern-day

), Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols, and instructed them to take charge of the construction of a lighthouse on Portland Head. Washington reminded them that the early government was poor, and said that the materials used to build the lighthouse should be taken from the fields and shores, materials which could be handled nicely when hauled by oxen on a drag. The original plans called for the tower to be 58 feet tall. When the masons completed this task, they climbed to the top of the tower and realized that it would not be visible beyond the headlands to the south, so it was raised another 20 feet. The tower was built of rubblestone, and Washington gave the masons four years to build it. While it was under construction in 1789, the federal government was being formed, and for a while it looked as though the lighthouse would not be finished. Following passage of their ninth law, the first congress made an appropriation and authorized the

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

, Alexander Hamilton, to inform the mechanics that they could go on with the completion of the tower. On August 10, 1790, the second session of congress appropriated a sum not to exceed $1500, and under the direction of the President, "to cause the said lighthouse to be finished and completed accordingly." The tower was completed during 1790 and first lit January 10, 1791. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, raids on shipping in and out of Portland Harbor became commonplace, and because of the necessity for ships at sea to sight Portland Head Light as soon as possible, the tower was raised 20 more feet. The current keepers' house was built in 1891. When Halfway Rock Light was built, Portland Head Light was considered less important, and in 1883, the tower was shortened and a weaker fourth-order Fresnel lens was added. The former height and second-order Fresnel lens were restored in 1885 following mariners' complaints. The station has changed little except for the rebuilding of the whistle house in 1975 due to its having been badly damaged in a storm. Today, Portland Head Light stands above ground and above water, its white conical tower being connected to a dwelling. The grounds and keeper's house are owned by the town of Cape Elizabeth, while the beacon and fog signal are owned and maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard as a current aid to navigation. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as Portland Head light (sic) on April 24, 1973, reference number 73000121. The lighthouse was designated as a

National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United State ...

by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

in 2002.

Keepers

• Joseph K. Greenleaf (1791–1795) As a patriot, he was appointed by George Washington.
• David Duncan (1796)
• Barzillai Delano (1796–1820)
• Joshua Freeman (1820–1840)
• Richard Lee (1840–1849)
• John F. Watts (1849–1853)
• John W. Coolidge (1853–1854)
• James S. Williams (1854)
• James Delano (1854–1861)
• Elder M. Jordan (1861–1869)
• Joshua F. Strout (1869–1904)
• Joseph W. Strout (1904–1928)
• John W. Cameron (assistant 1904-1928, principal keeper 1928-1929)
• Frank O. Hilt (1929–1944)
• Robert Thayer Sterling (assistant 1928-1944, principal keeper 1944-1946)
• Archie McLaughlin (Coast Guard, c. 1946)
• William L. Lockhart (Coast Guard 1946-1950)
• William T. Burns (Coast Guard, 1950-1956?)
• Earle E. Benson (Coast Guard, 1952-?)
• Edward Frank (Coast Guard 1956-?)
• Weston B. Gamage Jr. (Coast Guard, c. early 1960s)
• James R Wilson (Coast Guard, 1962 - 1964)
• Armand Houde(Coast Guard officer in charge, c. 1963-1965)
• Thomas Reed (Coast Guard, 1966–1967)
• Robert Allen (Coast Guard, c. 1972)
• Kenneth A. Perry (Coast Guard,1973-1975)
• Roy Cavanaugh (Coast Guard, c. 1971-1977)
• Jerry Poliskey (Coast Guard, c. 1977)
• Ray Barbar (Coast Guard Officer-in-Charge 1978-1982)
• Marion Danna (Coast Guard Assist. Light keeper 1980-1983)
• Michael Cook (Coast Guard Officer-in-Charge 1982-1986)
• Davis Simpson (Coast Guard, ?-1989)
• Nathan Wasserstrom (Coast Guard, ?-1989)
• Cameron Ayres

Gallery

File:Portland Head Lighthouse (1917).jpg, 1917 File:Portland Head Light 1933.jpg, 1933 File:portlandheadlight2.jpg, 2009 Portland Head Light October 2021.jpg, 2021

In art and popular culture

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

painted the lighthouse in 1927. His watercolor resides at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. * A snowy Portland Head Light was featured in the 1999 drama

Snow Falling on Cedars ''Snow Falling on Cedars'' is a 1994 novel by David Guterson. Guterson, a teacher, wrote the book in the early morning hours over ten years then quit his job to write full-time. Plot Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the Strait of Jua ...

, which was filmed during the Ice storm of 1998. * The lighthouse was featured in the fifth, sixth, and

seventh Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season e ...

season of '' Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D''. Described as being on the shores of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

in the show, the building housed an underground facility used by S.H.I.E.L.D. as their covert base of operations. It was also featured on a postcard in the opening credits of'' National Lampoon's Vacation''.

References

External links