Fort Point Light

Year Built

1837

Cost

$5,000

Type

Square

Height

31 feet

Location

Penobscot River Entrance

Automated Year

1988

First Lit

1857

Lens Type

Fourth order Fresnel Lens

Fog Signal

Horn: 1 every 10s

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

White/Black Trim

Last Keeper - Date

Larry Baum (1984 – 1988)

Description

The tower was topped by an octagonal iron lantern housing eight lamps with thirteen-inch reflectors that shone a fixed white light at a height of ninety-nine feet above high water.

Brief History

•  The lighthouse, a conical tower built of undressed split granite and an accompany dwelling were completed for just over $4,377.
•  Fort Point Lighthouse was built on land sold to the government by its first keeper, William Clewley.
•  Six years later, Inspector I.W.P. Lewis said the dwelling’s walls were “cracked on all four sides” and the tower’s walls were “cracked from roof to base.”
•  When Levi Bowdin took over after Clewley in April 1850, the problems still had not been corrected.
•  In 1950, the first Coast Guard-employed keeper, Ernest Mathie, stepped in to care for the light. BM1 Larry Baum was the last keeper when the Coast Guard automated the station in October 1988.