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

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Lighthouses

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This is the Portland Head Lighthouse, one of the best known and most photographed lighthouses in the U.S.  It was completed in January 1791.  The original tower was 72 feet high, and the light comprised 16 whale oil lamps. 
Near the Portland Head Lighthouse this rock was painted to record the shipwreck, in 1886, of the Annie C Maguire. 

Another nearby shipwreck, at Cape Elizabeth, was the Bohemian in 1864. 

Click the picture to see an image of the wreck on the Maine Memory Network, part of the Maine Historical Society. 

Portland Head Lighthouse, ME

The location of the painted rock detailed above.  In the distance is the Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse, a 90 foot tall granite tower which was built in 1905.  Automated in 1959, it is privately owned and remains operational. 
Some of the rocky coastline around the lighthouse.   
In 1865, the lighthouse was raised 20 feet.  The current lighthouse keeper's house was built in 1891, and houses the Portland Head Lighthouse Museum.  It replaced the original two roomed hut. 
To the right is a picture of the Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse taken by the US Coast Guard. 
A postcard of the lighthouse taken around the period 1943-1962.   Credit The Smithsonian