Heron Neck Light

Year Built

1854

Cost

$5,000

Type

Conical Tower attached to Dwelling

Height

30 feet

Location

Penobscot Bay

Automated Year

1982

First Lit

1854

Lens Type

Fifth order Fresnel Lens

Fog Signal

Horn 1 every 30s

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

White

Last Keeper - Date

Jack Peterson (at least 1975)

Description

A brick tower attached to one end of a one-and-a-half-story brick keeper’s dwelling.

Brief History

•   James Smith was paid an annual salary of $350 to serve as the first keeper of the light.
•  The brick dwelling was torn down and replaced with the present wooden dwelling in 1895. A stone oil house was added in 1903, and a boathouse and boat slip were added 500 feet north of the lighthouse in 1904.
•  On February 17, 1911, the lighthouse tender Lilac stopped at Heron Neck Lighthouse, where Captain Sterling went ashore to find the keeper’s widow and his son in charge of the station. Keeper Levi Farnham had just passed away the previous day.
•  On April 19, 1989, a fire broke out in the keeper’s dwelling, which had been empty since the station was automated in 1982.
•  Heron Neck Lighthouse remains an active aid to navigation and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.