Popular Lighthouses

In all of Maine, this list represents the best-known lighthouses on the Maine coast. For visitor information about these popular sightseeing destinations, explore our lighthouses. There you’ll be able to view all of the state’s lighthouses, including places to stay, boat tours, and lighthouse-related points of interest up and down the Maine coast.

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  Bass Harbor Head, Mt. Desert Island

  One of the most picturesque and frequently photographed Maine lights, Bass Harbor Head sits atop a rugged, pink rock cliff surrounded by dark evergreens. Located on the southern end of Mt. Desert Island, it’s a cylindrical tower attached to the keeper’s house by a short, enclosed passageway. Grounds are open all year but a Coast Guard family now lives in the keeper’s house and asks that their privacy be respected. You can see the lighthouse at the end of Lighthouse Road in Bass Harbor.

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  Cape Neddick “The Nubble,” York

  This picturesque and often-photographed lighthouse features a charming, Victorian keeper’s house with gingerbread trim and a lantern with miniature cast iron lighthouses on its railing. When NASA officials picked photos for the Voyager Spacecraft, intended to identify the Earth if the craft fell into extraterrestrial hands, they included a photo of the Nubble. The station is off-limits to the public except for occasional tours by Friends of Nubble Light, but it is easily viewed from Sohier Park in York Beach, about 200 yards away.

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  Doubling Point, Arrowsic

  The main channel of the Kennebec River turns sharply here, and the octagonal pyramidal Doubling Point tower marks the spot on a pier connected to the shore by a walkway at the west end of Arrowsic Island. This is one of several river lights in Maine, most along the Kennebec River. It is privately owned, but the caretakers allow access to the grounds. It can be found at the end of Doubling Point Road in Arrowsic.

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  Fort Point, Stockton Springs

  This light was intended to help boats bound for Bangor, a lumbering port in the mid-19th century. It was named for nearby Fort Pownall, built to guard colonists against French incursions. Here the two-story keeper’s dwelling is attached to the light tower by a short, cute enclosed passageway, and a quaint pyramidal bell tower still stands. The design evokes an 18th century colonial fort and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s located in a state park that includes what remains of Fort Pownall and is the residence of its park ranger.

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  Isle au Haut Lighthouse, Isle au Haut

  This 48-foot brick tower at the sea’s edge is connected by a long, wooden walkway to the keeper’s house, slightly inland. The well-maintained dwelling with a charming gambrel roof and some outbuildings now function as a B&B. About half the island, including the light, is part of Acadia National Park. This B&B is currently for sale for $2.5 million.

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  Matinicus Rock, Matinicus Island

  Fives miles east of Matinicus Island, this remote station on a 32-acre, windswept rock was home to the most famous teenager in Maine lighthouse history. Here 17-year-old Abbie Burgess, who lived with her family in the keeper’s house, sought refuge in the light tower after a storm swept away that house and almost everything else. This girl took care of her three sisters and ailing mother and kept the light burning for a month before help arrived in form of her father, who had been on the mainland buying provisions when the storm hit. The light currently is owned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the environs are maintained as a bird sanctuary, protected by the National Audubon Society. Access to the island is limited, but the light can be seen via boat cruise.

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  Owl’s Head Light Station, Owl’s Head

  High on a promontory near Rockport Harbor, this short, brick tower was one of the picturesque lights mentioned when Maine was dubbed “The Lighthouse State.” One keeper’s dog is credited with saving a distressed mailboat by barking continuously when the fog bell was buried in snow. In another favorite tale, two lovers were trapped in a wrecked schooner during a vicious storm and frozen together in an embrace in a kind of icy cocoon. The keeper managed to rescue and unthaw them. They recovered, and married. The keeper’s house now is a residence for a Coast Guard family, but it sits in a state park open to the public.

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  Pemaquid Point, Bristol

  This light station sits on a huge rocky promontory with dramatic ridges in the rocks caused by the pounding action of the sea, wave upon wave. The keeper’s house contains a Fishermen’s Museum with old equipment, photos and other artifacts from the fishing and lobstering industries and the lighthouse service. The tower and outbuildings also are open to the public. The complex sits on beautifully landscaped grounds maintained by the town of Bristol, with parking for a $2 fee. The town recently has made the second floor of the keeper’s house available for weekly rentals.

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  Petit Manan, Millbridge

  Locally known as ’tit Manan, this is one of the state’s tallest lighthouses, rising 123 feet, and also one of the least attractive. The high stone tower seems to have no relation to the charmless keeper’s house and outbuildings. The light is closed to the public, managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge.

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  Portland Breakwater, “The Bug”

  The most elegant of all Maine’s lighthouses, this was modeled after an ancient Greek monument, built in the 4th century BC. The cast-iron, cylindrical light has Corinthian columns and charming Greek roof edge adornments called palmettes. It’s dubbed “the bug” because of its small size. It sits in Bug Light Park, owned by South Portland, with free parking available.

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  Portland Head, Cape Elizabeth

  This lighthouse has a white conical tower, a charming Victorian keeper’s house with a rambling red roof and eyebrow eves on the porch, a commanding setting at the southwest entrance to Portland harbor, and beautifully landscaped grounds. Commissioned by George Washington and dedicated by the Marquis de Lafayette, it is the state’s oldest lighthouse and one of its most beloved, with a well-appointed museum in the former keeper’s house. It sits in Fort Williams Park, off Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth.

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  Seguin Island, Popham Beach

  This large, powerful light, which stands 180 feet above the water, contrasts strikingly with the modest, red brick keeper’s quarters. This was Maine’s first offshore station, located about two miles from the mouth of the Kennebec River. To relieve his wife’s boredom in this foggy locale, one keeper bought her a player piano. It had just one tune, and she played it over and over again. This drove the keeper mad. He strangled his wife, took an ax to the piano and, some say, subsequently committed suicide. Connie Scovill Small also lived here and wrote about it in a memoir, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Life.

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  Spring Point Ledge, Portland

  Although it is basically a standard design similar to many other caisson lighthouses, Spring Point Ledge Light is different in several respects. The first floor, used as a cellar for storage of tools and fuel, is actually within the cast iron caisson below the veranda. This makes the structure appear shorter than other similar towers, however, the caisson is built higher than average, putting the focal plane at a height of 54 feet. Another unusual facet of the lighthouse is the fact that it is one of the very few lights of this type you can walk around. Nearly all other caisson lights are fully surrounded by water, but the breakwater built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1950-51 permits Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse to welcome thousands of pedestrians every year.

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  West Quoddy Light, South Lubec

  This is the well-known and photogenic red and white, candy-striped lighthouse on the easternmost point in the continental U.S. It sits in Quoddy Head State Park at the end of Quoddy Head Road, off Boot Cove Road in South Lubec. The light contains a small museum and tourist center.