The Burnt Island Light, built in 1821, is the second oldest surviving

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. It hosts a

living history museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recre ...

run by the state Department of Marine Resources. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as Burnt Island Light Station on November 23, 1977.

History

Burnt Island lies at the western entrance to Boothbay Harbor, a large natural

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

with the town of the same name at its northeastern corner. The island took its name from the practice of burning the island's vegetation in order to keep the land clear for sheep grazing. Funds for building a light for Boothbay Harbor were appropriated in March 1821, and a petition by town officials and

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

for a lighthouse on the island met with purchase of the island within a few days. A granite rubble tower, lined with brick, was erected, together with a stone keeper's house, and late that summer the light was first exhibited, using the system of whale oil lamps and parabolic reflectors typical of the time. The original keeper's house was replaced in 1857 with the frame house that survives today; a covered walkway joined the house and the tower. At the same time a fourth order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

was installed, the first of many changes in the lighting and characteristic of the beacon. The original characteristic was a fixed white light; the intent of the light was to attract traffic to the harbor, not to warn of danger. In 1888, the light was blocked in sector to the southwest to prevent it from being seen by traffic coming up the coast from the south until they had cleared the Cuckolds, a pair of rocky islands at the mouth of Booth Bay. A year later the characteristic was changed again, this time to fixed red with two white sectors indicating the safe channels to either side of Squirrel Island. This brought about confusion with the

Ram Island Light Ram Island Light is a lighthouse located just offshore of Ram Island, marking the eastern entrance to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and the west side of the mouth of the Damariscotta River. It was built in 1883 and automated in 1965. It was listed ...

(built in 1883), and in 1901 the fixed light was removed and replaced with a rotating beacon consisting of a square box with a lens on each face. This lens served until 1962, when it was retired to a museum and replaced with an electrified beacon. It was the last lighthouse in Maine to be converted from kerosene. A pyramidal wooden tower was constructed in 1895 to hold a fog bell. This was demolished in 1962 when the bell was moved to a metal frame and rung with an electric striker instead of clockwork. The station was automated in 1988, one of the last Maine stations to be manned.

Museum

In 1998, the island and light station were transferred to the State of Maine Department of Marine Resources as part of the Maine Lighthouse Program. The buildings have been restored, as far as possible, to their 1950s condition, and in 2003 a living history program was inaugurated.

References

External links

Burnt Island
at Maine Department of Marine Resources website
Lighthouse friends entry
{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1821 Living museums in Maine Museums in Lincoln County, Maine Lighthouse museums in Maine Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Lighthouses in Lincoln County, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Lincoln County, Maine Boothbay Harbor, Maine

History

Museum

See also

References

External links