Wood Island Light is an active

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 the eastern edge of Wood Island in

Saco Bay Saco Bay is a small curved embayment of the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic coast of Maine in the United States. The name derives "from a map of the coastline made in 1525 by the Spanish explorer Esteban Gómez. He named the bay ''Bahio de Saco'' ...

, on the southern 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 ...

. The light is just outside the entrance to

Biddeford Pool Biddeford Pool is a large tidal pool, located off Saco Bay south of the mouth of the Saco River on the south coast of Maine. It is approximately 6 miles southeast of downtown Biddeford, to which it is connected via State Route 208. The town of Ke ...

and the end of the

Saco River The Saco River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Sαkóhki'') is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, Maine, Portland ...

. The lighthouse is a conical white tower of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

rubble. The light itself sits above mean high water. Its automated beacon alternates between green and white every 10 seconds. Wood Island Light is

's second-oldest lighthouse (after

Portland Head Light Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a head of land at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor, which is within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. Completed in 17 ...

) and the nation's eleventh-oldest. 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 Wood Island Light Station on January 21, 1988, reference number 87002274. 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 ...

maintains the active beacon of the lighthouse, while The Friends of Wood Island Light, a non-profit organization, has assisted the Coast Guard by maintaining and restoring parts of the lighthouse and keepers dwellings.

History

Wood Island Light was established in 1808 under the orders of President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

. The original tower was an octagonal wooden structure. After it rotted, a granite tower was erected to replace it in 1839. In 1858, the new tower was renovated to allow the installation of a 4th-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 ...

. The current keepers dwellings were also built then. In the 1960s, the original lantern room was removed and an aerobeacon was installed. This was deemed unsightly by locals and when the lighthouse was automated in 1986, a new lantern room was fabricated and installed on the lighthouse along with a

VRB-25 The VRB-25 is a lighthouse optical system designed and built by Vega Industries Ltd. in Porirua, New Zealand. It was originally designed in 1993-95 with the assistance of the United States Coast Guard to meet USCG requirements for a robust m ...

beacon, then the latest technology. In 2013, the VRB-25 was replaced by a

VLB-44 The VRB-25 is a lighthouse optical system designed and built by Vega Industries Ltd. in Porirua, New Zealand. It was originally designed in 1993-95 with the assistance of the United States Coast Guard to meet USCG requirements for a robust m ...

, an

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

beacon with a service life of ten years.

Legends and lore

Eben Emerson Eben Emerson was an American lighthouse keeper who served at Wood Island Light, Maine from 1861 to 1865. On March 16, 1865, he saved the crew of the British brig ''Edyth Anne'' from drowning in a heavy storm near the lighthouse; for this action he ...

served as Lightkeeper from 1861 to 1865. On March 16, 1865, he saved the crew of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

''Edyth Anne'' from drowning in a heavy storm near the lighthouse; for this action he was commended by the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

government and rewarded with a pair of binoculars. Thomas Henry Orcutt, a former sea captain and previous keeper at Saddleback Ledge Light served as keeper of Wood Island Light for 19 years (1886–1905). His dog, Sailor, became famous for ringing the station's fog bell to greet passing ships by taking the bell cord in mouth and pulling it with his teeth. In the 1890s Wood Island Light and Wood Island were host to a grisly murder-suicide. A local squatter and part-time lobsterman was living on the west end of the island. The squatter had been involved in an earlier altercation on the mainland and was approached by a sheriff's deputy in his squatter shack on the island. The squatter murdered the sheriff's deputy. Realizing what he had done he attempted to turn himself in to lighthouse keeper Thomas Orcutt who, in fear, turned him away. The squatter returned to his shack and committed suicide. Legend has it that the ghost of the murdered deputy still haunts the lighthouse and island.

Keepers

*Benjamin Cole (1808–1809) *Philip Goldthwaite (1809–1832) *Tristam Goldthwaite (1832–1833) *Abraham Norwood (1833–1841) *John Adams (1841-unknown) *Stephen D. Batchelder (1849-unknown) *Nathaniel Varrell (185?) *L.F. Varrell (185?) *Joseph R. Bryant (1854-1861?) * Ebenezer Emerson (1861–1865) *Edwin Tarbox (1865–1872) *Albert Norwood (1872–1886) *Thomas Henry Orcutt (1886–1905) *Charles A. Burke (1905–1914) *C.B. Staples (1914–1917) *W. F. Lurvey (1917–1923) *Albert Staples (1923–1926) *George Woodward (1927–1934)

Viewing

Wood Island Light is viewable from just beyond the southern end of SR-208 off Biddeford Pool, Maine. To reach the best viewing spot proceed beyond SR-208's southern terminus along Lester B Orcutt Bl. There is an entrance to an Audubon trail on the left side of the road. Follow this path to the ocean. Wood Island Light is across the channel. Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse runs seasonal tours out to the island and lighthouse from Biddeford Pool.

Wildlife

The island supports a small population of deer who swim the half mile to and from Biddeford Pool. When visiting the island it is a rare treat to spot them. The best viewing can often be in winter from the East Point Sanctuary in Biddeford Pool. In winter it is not uncommon to spot

snowy owl The snowy owl (''Bubo scandiacus''), also known as the polar owl, the white owl and the Arctic owl, is a large, white owl of the true owl family. Snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mos ...

s on the island. Rafts of

eider Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quilt ...

scoter The scoters are stocky seaducks in the genus ''Melanitta''. The drakes are mostly black and have swollen bills, the females are brown. They breed in the far north of Europe, Asia, and North America, and winter farther south in temperate zones of ...

s and

loon Loons (North American English) or divers (British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order Gavi ...

s are present in the winter. Brants and

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

s arrive in early spring.

References

External links

Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1808 Towers completed in 1808 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Buildings and structures in Biddeford, Maine Lighthouses in York County, Maine 1808 establishments in Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in York County, Maine