Prospect Harbor Point Light
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Prospect Harbor Point Light is a
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 ...
on Prospect Harbor Point, which divides Sand Cove from Inner Harbor at the head of
Prospect Harbor Prospect Harbor is a bay in Gouldsboro, Maine. It is separated from Gouldsboro Bay to the northeast by Cranberry Point and from Winter Harbor to the west by the Schoodic Peninsula The Schoodic Peninsula is a peninsula in Down East Maine. I ...
on the southern shore of
Gouldsboro, Maine Gouldsboro is a town and municipality in Hancock County, Maine, United States on the Schoodic Peninsula. The town was named for Robert Gould, a landholder in the town. The town has many historically separate fishing villages, summer colonies and ...
. Also known as Prospect Harbor Light, it was first established in 1850. The present structure was built in 1891. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Prospect Harbor Light Station in 1988.


Description and history

The light station at Prospect Harbor was authorized by Congress in 1847 and went into operation in 1850. At that time Prospect Harbor was home to a significant fishing fleet. The light was deactivated in 1859, after the United States Lighthouse Board claimed it was not needed because the harbor was not used as a shelter during storms. It was reactivated in 1870. In 1891 the station was rebuilt; the present tower and keeper's house date to this period. The brick oil house was added in 1905. The light was automated in 1934, but keepers remained on site until 1951, when its Fresnel lens was removed and replaced by modern optics. The station last underwent major restorative work in the early 2000s; it remains an active aid to navigation. The first tower built (in 1848) was a rubble-stone tower. This tower was replaced in 1891 by the present round wood-frame tower, which is in height and clad in wooden shingles. It is capped by a lantern house which is topped by a polygonal roof, and surrounded by a in iron walkway with railing. The door is on the north side, and there is a window on the west side. When built, a covered walkway joined the tower to the keeper's house, but this has been removed. The keeper's house is a two-story wood-frame structure, clad in shingles on the upper floor and clapboard on the first floor. A porch extends across part of its front, with four square posts and slatted balustrade. The roof of the porch is a continuation of the main roof, and is pierced by a gable-roof dormer. The keeper's house was heavily damaged in a June 27, 2022 fire, which was ruled accidental. The small brick oilhouse stands a short way north of the house and tower.


See also

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List of lighthouses in Maine This is a list of all lighthouses in the U.S. state of Maine as identified by the United States Coast Guard. There are fifty-seven active lights in the state, two of which are maintained as private aids; nine are standing but inactive, and three ...
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National Register of Historic Places listings in Hancock County, Maine __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hancock County, Maine. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine, ...


References

{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1891 Houses completed in 1891 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Lighthouses in Hancock County, Maine 1850 establishments in Maine Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine