Type:
Year Established:
1838
Existing:
Yes
Download:
File Type:
jpg (image/jpeg)
Photo Date:
2009
Photo Credit:
Chad Kaiser
Photo Courtesy of:
U.S. Lighthouse Society
LOCATION
Location:
EAST PENOBSCOT BAY
Latitude:
44° 13.1'
Longitude:
68° 46.2'
City / Town:
TOWN OF DEER ISLE
U.S. State:
Maine
Location County:
HANCOCK
Country:
United States
OWNER & ACCESS
Owner / Manager:
Eagle Light Caretakers
Open to Public:
No
STRUCTURE
Year Tower Established:
1838
Tower Construction Material:
GRANITE RUBBLESTONE
Tower Foundation:
NATURAL/EMPLACED
Height of light above mean high water, in feet:
106
Height, in feet, from base of structure to center of lantern:
30
Tower Shape:
CONICAL
Fog Signal Building?:
Yes
Year Fog Signal Building Constructed:
1932
Keeper's Quarters?:
No
Keeper's Quarters Style:
ATTACHED TO TOWER
Other Structures:
1932 FOG BELL TOWER. KEEPER'S HOUSE DESTROYED ALONG WITH OIL HOUSE (1895), STORAGE BUILDING (1902), OUTHOUSE
OPTICS
Current Optic:
VLB-44 (LED), SOLAR POWERED (INSTALLED 2017)
Original Optic Type:
FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Year Original Lens Installed:
1858
Private Aid:
No
Year Automated:
1959
USCG Access to Optics:
Yes
Entered by:
Entered Date:
Jul 20, 2017
After automation in 1959, the Coast Guard put all the buildings, except the tower itself, up for auction under the condition that the buyer would remove the buildings from the light station property. Nobody was willing to try this virtually impossible feat, so in 1963 the Coast Guard decided to raze all the buildings except the lighthouse and bell tower. In February 1964, a Coast Guard crew out of Rockland demolished the buildings, leaving the old lighthouse tower standing alone except for the bell tower and traces of the old foundations. Under the Maine Lights Program, ownership of the lighthouse was transferred in 1998 to a nonprofit group, the Eagle Light Caretakers.
(New England Lighthouses: A Virtual Guide at www.newenglandlighthouses.net)