Owls Head Light

Owls Head Light
Owls Head Light
Location	Owls Head, Maine
Coordinates	44°05′30″N 69°02′38″W / 44.09167°N 69.04389°W
Tower
Constructed	1825
Foundation	Granite
Construction	Brick
Automated	1989
Height	9 m (30 ft)
Shape	Cylindrical
Markings	White with black lantern
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Fog signal	Horn: 2 every 20s
Light
First lit	1825
Focal height	100 feet (30 m)
Lens	4th order Fresnel lens
Range	16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi)
Characteristic	Fixed white
	Owls Head Light Station
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Owls Head, Maine
Area	3 acres (1.2 ha)
Built by	Jeremiah Berry; Green & Foster
NRHP reference No.	78000183
Added to NRHP	January 18, 1978

The Owls Head Light is an active aid to navigation located at the entrance of Rockland Harbor on western Penobscot Bay in the town of Owls Head, Knox County, Maine.^[3]^[4]^[5] The lighthouse is owned by the U.S. Coast Guard and licensed to the American Lighthouse Foundation.^[6] It is the centerpiece of 13-acre (5.3 ha) Owls Head State Park^[7] and was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Owls Head Light Station in 1978.^[8]

History

The town of Owls Head is located south of Rockland, and includes an eponymous peninsula that projects northeast into Penobscot Bay, with its tip roughly east of downtown Rockland. The light station is located at the eastern tip of this peninsula. The light station was established in 1825 with the construction of a round, rubblestone tower by Jeremiah Berry and Green & Foster.^[8] The tower was rebuilt in 1852.^[9] It is a 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) cylindrical brick tower on a granite foundation standing on top a cliff. It has one of the last six Fresnel lenses in operation in Maine.^[2] The light is located 100 feet (30 m) above mean sea level.^[8]

In 1854, a keeper's house was built separately from the lighthouse. The cottage now serves as the headquarters of the American Lighthouse Foundation. A fourth order Fresnel lens was installed in 1856. A generator house and an oil storage building were added in 1895.

Renovations carried out in 2010 saw the tower restored to its 1852 appearance. In addition to repainting the tower, repairs were done to the bricks, the lantern's ironwork and windowpanes, and the parapet's floor.^[9]

Gallery

Postcard view ca. 1930s
The hill where the tower sits
The view from the base of the tower

References

^ "Owls Head". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
^ ^a ^b "Fresnel Lenses Still in Operation" (PDF). U.S. Coast Guard. December 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
^ Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2017. p. 36.
^ "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maine". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. December 21, 2016. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017.
^ Rowlett, Russ (April 5, 2017). "Lighthouses of the United States: Southern Maine". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
^ "Owls Head Lighthouse". American Lighthouse Foundation. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
^ "Owls Head State Park". Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Flaherty, Michael F. (January 18, 1978). "Owls Head Light Station". National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Owls Head Lighthouse". Lighthousefriends. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

External links

Owls Head State Park Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

[gnis-1] "Owls Head". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.

[cgfl-2] "Fresnel Lenses Still in Operation" (PDF). U.S. Coast Guard. December 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

[cgll-3] Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey (PDF). Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2017. p. 36.

[cghist-4] "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maine". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. December 21, 2016. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017.

[rowlett-5] Rowlett, Russ (April 5, 2017). "Lighthouses of the United States: Southern Maine". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[ALF-6] "Owls Head Lighthouse". American Lighthouse Foundation. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

[dacf-7] "Owls Head State Park". Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Retrieved July 26, 2014.

[nomination-8] Flaherty, Michael F. (January 18, 1978). "Owls Head Light Station". National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

[friends-9] "Owls Head Lighthouse". Lighthousefriends. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

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Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
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* Disputed territory claimed by Maine but de facto controlled by Canada

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See also

References

External links