Matinicus Rock Light is a lighthouse on Matinicus Rock, a windswept rock off the coast of

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. It is one of eleven seacoast lights off the coast of Maine. First established in 1827, the present surviving structures date to 1857. The lighthouse was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as Matinicus Rock Light Station on March 14, 1988.

Description

Matinicus Rock is a windswept and treeless rock, projecting out of the

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...

several miles south of the main islands of

Matinicus Isle, Maine Matinicus Isle is an island plantation in Knox County, Maine, United States. The island is located within Penobscot Bay about 20 miles east of the mainland coast and is accessible by state ferry service from Rockland or by air taxi from Knox C ...

, an island community that is a ferry ride from Rockland. The light station occupies the center of the rock, and includes two towers, a keeper's house, shed, and boathouse. The dock is located on the northwest side of the rock. The two towers are in height, built out of ashlar granite stone. Only the southern one is active, and has a twelve-sided lantern house, while the other has lost its lantern house. Connected to the active tower is the keeper's house, a single-story frame structure whose end walls are semicircular granite structures, remnants of the older lighthouses.

History

In 1827 the

United States Lighthouse Service The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of th ...

erected a pair of wooden light towers and a cobblestone keeper's residence on Matinicus Rock. The lights guided sea traffic until 1848 when they were replaced by the granite structure (see picture). In 1857 the government rebuilt the towers and placed them apart to make them more effective; the north light was deactivated in 1924.

Alexander Parris Alexander Parris (November 24, 1780 – June 16, 1852) was a prominent American architect-engineer. Beginning as a housewright, he evolved into an architect whose work transitioned from Federal style architecture to the later Greek Revival. Parri ...

, the architect who designed the 1848 lighthouses, also designed many stone buildings in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

including the 1825

Quincy Market Quincy Market is a historic building next to Faneuil Hall in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was constructed between 1824 and 1826 and named in honor of mayor Josiah Quincy III, Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction wi ...

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Matinicus Light is famous for the story of

Abbie Burgess Abbie Burgess Grant (1839–1892) was an American lighthouse keeper known for her bravery in tending the Matinicus Rock Light in Maine during a raging winter storm in 1856. She did so for nearly a month while her father, the head keeper, was away ...

, who as a young girl maintained the light for several weeks while her father, the lighthouse keeper, was on the mainland. Winter storms prevented his timely return. Her mother was also very sick. Matinicus Rock is now fully automated. A diesel generator used for power was replaced by solar panels in 2007. Matinicus Rock is known as being the southernmost nesting site for the

Atlantic puffin The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family (biology), family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin being found ...

and as of 2009, the

common murre The common murre or common guillemot (''Uria aalge'') is a large auk. It has a Subarctic, circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming ...

. The

Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

often has observers on island during nesting season.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1827 Lighthouses completed in 1846 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Lighthouses in Knox County, Maine Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Knox County, Maine 1827 establishments in Maine

Description

History

See also

References