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Managing Organization:
Fort Point State Park
Telephone: 207-567-3356
Email:
Notes:
Fort Point Light is adjacent to Fort Pownall, built in 1759 to guard against French attack. Fort Point Lighthouse was transferred to the Maine Bureau of Parks and Land under the Maine Lights Program. The Coast Guard still maintains the active optic.
Tower Height: 31
Height of Focal Plane: 88
Characteristic and Range: Fixed white.
Description of Tower: Square, white brick tower, with black cast iron lantern, attached to keeper's house.
This light is operational
Other Buildings?
1857 1.5 story wood L-shaped Colonial Cape keeper's house. 1890 pyramidal wood fog bell tower; 1890 barn, 1897 brick oil house, brick workroom between tower and house.
Earlier Towers?
1836: granite tower.
Date Established: 1836
Date Present Tower Built: 1857
Date Automated: 1988
Optics: 1857: Fourth order Fresnel lens (still in use).
Fog Signal: 1890: Fog bell and striking apparatus in pyramidal tower; later fog horn (now automated, one blast every 10 seconds).
Current Use: Active aid to navigation in state park, housing for State Park personnel.
Open To Public? Grounds only.
Museum?
The bell tower contains photos and displays on the history of the lighthouse; it is open sometimes on summer weekends.
Directions:
North on US Route 1 in Stockton Springs: Take a right at a sign reading "Ft. Point State Park - 4 1/2 miles." Continue for 0.6 mile through the town's small business district, then turn right at a "Fort Point State Park" sign onto East Cape Road. Turn left at Fort Point Road and continue to the free parking area at the park. Visitors are welcome to walk around the lighthouse grounds, but the lighthouse is the family residence of a park ranger and is not open to the public. There is also a trail leading from near the lighthouse to a beach below.
Mapquest URL: Click here to get a map to this lighthouse!
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Keepers: William Clewly (1836-1850); Levi Bowdin (1850-1853); John Odom (1853-1861); Henry Stowell (1861-1866); Hiram Grant (1866-1882); Adelbert Webster (1882-1902); John Thurston (1902-1919); Edward Farren (1919-1929); Arthur Mitchell (1929-1952); Ernest Mathie (Lighthouse Service, then Coast Guard, 1952-1957); Ernest DeRaps (Coast Guard. 1957-?); Wayne McGraw (Coast Guard); Ray Scarborough (Coast Guard); Gene Benner (Coast Guard); Harry Lahaye (Coast Guard); Terry Cole (Coast Guard, 1973-1976); Paul Munroe (Coast Guard, 1976-1979); ? Smith (Coast Guard); Dan Achorn (Coast Guard); Larry Baum (Coast Guard, ?-1988).
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