Franklin Island Light

Year Built

1805

Cost

$3,150

Type

Cylindrical Brick Tower

Height

45 feet

Location

Muscongus Bay

Automated Year

1967

First Lit

1855 (current structure)

Lens Type

Fourth order Fresnel Lens

Fog Signal

None

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

White W/Grey & Red Trim

Last Keeper - Date

Charles N. Robinson (1926 – 1933)

Description

The diameter of the tower is twelve feet at the base and tapers to eleven feet at the parapet, while the thickness of the walls reduces from two feet at the base to eighteen inches at the lantern room. A service room on the north side of the tower linked the lighthouse to a six-room, one-and-a-half-story dwelling.

Brief History

•  The tower’s fixed white light had a focal plane of fifty feet above the surrounding sea. The lighthouse was just the third to be built in what is now the State of Maine.
•  John Lowell, the light’s first keeper, remained at the station for twenty-three years and nearly saw the erection of the island’s second lighthouse, which was built by Ezekiel D. Demuth in 1830.
•  In 1853 when Inspector W. B. Franklin recommend that the lighthouses on Franklin Island and Baker Island be rebuilt.
•  In 1933, the light on Franklin Island was converted to an automated acetylene gas apparatus, and the station was destaffed.
•  In 1999, the Coast Guard licensed Franklin Light Preservation Inc. to care for the lighthouse.