The Whitehead Lifesaving Station was a maritime rescue facility on

Whitehead Island Whitehead Island is an island in St. George, Knox County, Maine. Whitehead Light was built on the island in 1807. The island is approximately in area and is known for "bleached, rugged granite shores". It is one of the foggiest places on the Maine ...

, an island off the coast of

St. George, Maine St. George is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. It includes the villages of Port Clyde and Tenants Harbor, with the latter being town's commercial center. A favorite with artists, writers and naturalists, St. George is home to the B ...

at the mouth of

Penobscot Bay Penobscot Bay (french: Baie de Penobscot) is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, downriver from Belfast, Maine, Belfast. Penobscot Bay has many ...

. Established in 1874 by the

United States Life-Saving Service The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian effort ...

, its original building is one of the best-preserved of the five stations built by the service on the coast of

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 ...

and

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

at that time. The station was in active use until the 1940s, and is now privately owned. It was listed on 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 ...

in 1988.

Description and history

Whitehead Island is a island off the northeastern coast of St. George, near the southwestern approach to Penobscot Bay. In addition to the former lifesaving station, the island is also home to

Whitehead Light Whitehead Light is a lighthouse on Whitehead Island, on Muscle Ridge Channel, in the southwestern entrance to Penobscot Bay, Maine. It is in the town of St.George. Established in 1804, it is one of Maine's oldest light stations, with its presen ...

, located at its southeastern point. The lifesaving station is located near the southwestern point of the island, between it and a small peninsula jutting to the south. Its historic features include the original 1874 building, located near the water, and a 1922 residential structure set further inland. Between these two structures is a small

parade ground A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

which was used by the station crews for drills; part of this ground includes the foundation point where a "wreck pole" was mounted, simulating the mast of a ship. The 1874 building is a two-story rectangular wood frame structure with decorative Italianate features, while the 1922 residence is a modest vernacular two-story building with a hip roof. with The original 1874 building was probably designed by Francis Chandler, who was employed in the

Office of the Supervising Architect The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939. The office handled some of the most important architectural commissions of the nineteenth ...

of the

United States Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an United States federal executive departments, executive department. The departme ...

. The 1922 building was probably designed by Victor Mendelhoff, the principal architect of the

from 1896. The Life-Saving Service was merged into the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

, which closed the facility about 1944, selling it into private ownership. Most of Whitehead Island is privately owned, with a conservation easement protecting most of it. The facilities of the station are rented by the owners to the Pine Island Camp, which owns the lighthouse complex and conducts trips to the island.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Knox County, Maine Queen Anne architecture in Maine Colonial Revival architecture in Maine Buildings and structures completed in 1874 Closed facilities of the United States Coast Guard Life-Saving Service stations Life-Saving Service stations on the National Register of Historic Places Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine 1874 establishments in Maine

Description and history

See also

References