Whitehead Light

Year Built

1804

Cost

$2,150

Type

Conical

Height

41 feet

Location

Penobscot Bay entrance

Automated Year

1982

First Lit

1852 (current structure)

Lens Type

Third order Fresnel lens (1855), 12 inches (300 mm), (1982)

Fog Signal

Horn: 2 every 30s

Year Deactivated

Active

Color

Natural

Last Keeper - Date

Arthur H. Urann (1967 – )

Description

The tower is built out of cut granite blocks, rising to a sixteen-sided lantern house surrounded by an iron walkway and railing. A small brick service room projects from one side. Adjacent to the tower is the keeper's house.

Brief History

•  A $6,000 contract was awarded to Jeremiah Berry in 1831 to replace the station’s worn-out, wooden structures.
•  In December 1840, three captains of vessels that regularly passed Whitehead Island provided letters praising the novel method for powering the fog bell.
•  During three months in 1842, Keeper Bartlett counted 2,397 vessels passing the lighthouse.
•  A reliable and powerful fog signal was finally placed on the island in 1869 in the form of a ten-inch, steam fog whistle.
•  Whitehead Island Lighthouse was automated in 1982, and the two dwellings were boarded up and left to the elements.