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Name: Whitehead Light (ME)  

Also known as: Whitehead Island Light

Nearest Town or City:
Tenants Harbor (St. George), Maine, United States

Location: Southern entrance to Penobscot Bay.

Click to enlarge: 88Kb   
Photo: Jeremy D'Entremont

Managing Organization:
Pine Island Camp

Telephone: 207-729-7714

Website: http://www.pineisland.org
Email:

Notes:
Pine Island Camp, a chilldrens' camp situated on Pine Island in Great Pond, in the Belgrade Lakes, bought 70 acres of Whitehead Island in 1956 and has been bringing children to the island ever since. In 1997, under the Maine Lights Program, the lighthouse was transferred to Pine Island Camp. The keeper's house is being restored.

Tower Height: 41

Height of Focal Plane: 75

Characteristic and Range: Green eclipsed by black every four seconds.

Description of Tower: Conical granite tower with green cast iron lantern.

This light is operational

Other Buildings?
1891 1.5 story wood frame duplex keeper's house, 1888 brick fog signal building, 1891 oil house, garage, boathouse.

Earlier Towers?
1807: stone tower.

Date Established: 1807

Date Present Tower Built: 1852

Date Automated: 1982

Optics: 1857: Third order Fresnel lens; 1982: 300 mm. The original Fresnel lens is now at the Shore Village Museum, 104 Limerock Street, Rockland, ME 04841, phone (207) 594-0311.

Fog Signal: 1830: Fog bell; 1837: Tide-driven fog bell; 1853: New fog bell; 1869: Steam-driven fog whistle; 1933: Two new fog horns run by gasoline engines and air compressor; now automated horn with two blasts every 30 seconds.

Current Use: Active aid to navigation.

Open To Public? Grounds only.

Directions:
Whitehead Light can only be partially seen through trees from the mainland, from the end of Spruce Head Point Road in Spruce Head. It is best seen by boat. You can see it from some of the excellent lighthouse cruises on board the Lively Lady Too out of Camden; call the Elms Bed and Breakfast at (207) 236-6520 or (800) 755-ELMS, or email theelms@midcoast.com for information. You can also see it from some of the cruises of the sail vessel Goddess of the Sea, leaving Tenants Harbor for one, two or three day sail adventures. Call (888) 724-5010 or email capfrank@goddesscruise.com for information. You can also see Whitehead Light from the Lighthouse Flights offered by Downeast Air, Inc.; call (207) 594-2171 or (888) 594-2171.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Keepers: Ellis Dolph (1805-1807); Ebenezer Otis (1813-1816); Charles Haskell (1816-1821); Samuel Davis (1821-1840); William Perry, Jr. (1840-1841 and 1845-1849); Joshua Bartlett (1849); Dennis Pillsbury (1853); Samuel B. Stackpole (1853-1858); Albert Thomas, assistant (1854); Edwin R. Stackpole (1853-1858); Eugene Stackpole, assistant (1857); Elisha Snow. Assistant (1857-1859); Isaac Sterns (1858-1860); Thomas Shoutts, assistant (1859-1860); Samuel Ludwig, assistant (1860); William Spear (1860-1861); William Spear, Jr., assistant (1860-1861); Ephraim Quinn (1861-1862); William Perry, assistant (1861-1862); Archibald McKellar (1862); James McKellar, assistant (1862); Edward Spaulding (1862-1865); E. Cooper Spaulding, assistant (1862-1866); Hezekiah Long (1865-1875); Horace Norton, assistant (1866-1874); Abbie B. Long, assistant (1867-1875); Isaac N. Grant (1875-1890); Abby B. Grant, assistant (1875-1890); Knot Perry, assistant (1876); George L. Upton (1890-1892); Frank N. Jellison, assistant (1890-1892), then keeper (1892-1905); Daniel Stevens (1892); George Matthews, assistant (1892-1898); Joseph W. Jellison, second assistant (1895-1898); Walden B. Hodgkins, second assistant (1899-1902); Otto A. Wilson, second assistant (1899); George S. Connors, second assistant (1899-1902); Edward T. Merritt, second assistant (1902-1903); Elmer Reed, assistant, then keeper (1902-1912); George M. Joyce, second assistant (1903-1905); A. Faulkingham, second assistant, then first assistant (1905-1909); Stephen F. Flood, first assistant (1905-1907); Frank B. Ingalls, second assistant (1907-1909); Fairfield H, Moore, first assistant (1909-1911); John E. Purrington, second assistant (1909-1911); Lester Leighton, second assistant (1911-1913); Charles Robinson, assistant (1913-?); Hervey H, Wass, first assistant (1913-1919); Arthur B. Mitchell (1919-1929); Arthur Marston (1923-1928, assistant?); Arthur J. Beal (1929-1950); Frank Alley, second assistant (1928-194?); George Lester Alley, first assistant (1926-194?); Clyde Grant (Coast Guard, c. 1950); Gordon P. Eaton (Coast Guard, c. 1950-1952); Richard (Rick) Ames (Coast Guard, c. 1950); Ronald Upton (Coast Guard keeper, 9/1973-5/1974)