Where in Maine?

Photographed by Ed Fletcher

Can you name this lighthouse and the harbor it protects?

[cs_drop_cap letter=”A” color=”#ff6600″ size=”5em” ] 16th-century Spanish galleon sails past a 19th-century lighthouse powered by 21st-century solar panels. That’s summer as usual for this lighthouse, witness to the comings and goings of all manner of vessels — ferries, tankers, ginormous cruise ships, and yes, even the occasional Spanish galleon (this one happens to be a replica from Sevilla, in Maine last summer for a maritime festival). One of three surviving sparkplug lights built in Maine in the 1890s, this tower is unique in that it still has the balcony circling the base just below the lantern. Before the tower was automated in the 1960s, it doubled as the keeper’s house and was so cramped that it was designated a “stag light,” meaning the keeper’s family didn’t live with him. There was no breakwater then, so the keeper came ashore only once every two weeks — less often when the weather was bad. One keeper whiled away the lonely hours carving bird decoys that today are hot commodities on the antiques market — in 2008, one of his birds sold at Christie’s for $125,000! These days, no keeper would lack for company, at least not in summer, when thousands of people stroll down the 950-foot-long breakwater and step inside for a very vertical tour.

❯❯ If you can name this lighthouse, submit your answer below. We’ll feature our favorite letter in an upcoming issue — and send the winner a Down East wall calendar.