Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard

Vacations -

Lighthouses

Fort Point Lighthouse, ME

Fort Point Lighthouse is situated in Fort Point State Park which is near Stockton Springs.  Massachusetts Governor Thomas Pownall (Maine was a part of Massachusetts then) built Fort Pownall here in 1759, and the ruins of some of the fortifications remain visible.  The 120 acre park is on a peninsula and looks across the Penobscot River and Penobscot Bay.  Much of it is wooded and a haven for mosquitoes and other insects, as we found out!
The first Fort Point Light was was a granite tower that was built in 1836.  It was replaced in 1857 by the present brick lighthouse and a keeper's cottage.  The lighthouse was fitted at that time with a Fourth-order Fresnel lens,  that remains in use today.   In fact there are  nine lighthouses in  Maine that  continue to  use their Fresnel Lenses.  It received a new lantern in 1868.  In 1890, a bell tower and a barn were added, and an oil house was built in 1897.  All of the buildings are still standing.  A brighter incandescent oil vapor lamp was installed in 1935, and the light was electrified in 1950.    The lighthouse was automated in 1988. 
The Fort Point bell tower is extremely rare, being one of a very few left in the area.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The old bell can be seen hanging on the side of the tower.
While the grounds are accessible, the tower is not open to the public, so I could not take a picture of the circular interior of the square tower, with its spiral, ornate cast-iron staircase. 
Visit: