Light Station History
Whitehead
Light Station was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson in
1803. It was the seventh lighthouse commissioned in the
United States and has been in continuous operation ever since. The
Light Station has seen many changes in its long history, but the
mission of the station has always been the same: to provide a beacon to
mariners negotiating the challenging waters that mark the entrance to
Penobscot Bay. Today Whitehead Light continues to be an aid to
navigation used by recreational boaters and professional mariners.
While Pine Island Camp is the owner of the Light Station, the light is maintained and operated by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The
original light tower was lit by a whale oil lamp and was maintained by
a single light keeper family. In 1891 the original rubble stone
keeper’s dwelling was razed and the current two-family dwelling for the
keeper and assistant was built on the old foundation. In 1895 a
second assistant keeper was added to the crew. A single-family
house for the Head Keeper was built in 1900. The light was automated in
1982 and both keeper’s dwellings were boarded up and
abandoned. The lovely Head Keeper's House was torn down in the
mid-1980s, and outcry over its demise, along with that of a few other
lovely keeper’s houses along the Maine Coast, gave rise to the Maine
Lights Program. It was through the efforts of the Island
Institute that federal legislation was passed that made it possible for
responsible owners to be found for nearly all of the 32 lighthouse
properties in Maine. Pine Island Camp, a nonprofit with a
40-year history of responsible stewardship on Whitehead Island, applied
for and was granted ownership of the Light Station in 1997.
Since 1998 Pine Island Camp has been working to renovate the Keeper’s House and other Light Station structures,
and has purchased property on the mainland at Emery's Wharf to serve as
a parking area and debarkation point for programs at the Light
Station. This work has been made possible through generous
donations of time and funds by Pine Island Camp alumni and other
friends of WLS.
Whitehead
Light Station will continue to serve as an aid to navigation, but it
will now also serve as a place for rest, recreation, and learning for
adults.
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