Whitlocks Mill Light Station, Calais Maine
- Categories:
- Maine
- Lighthouse
Whitlocks Mill Light Station was established in 1909 as a guide to the upper St. Croix River and the harbor at Calais. It was the last station built in Maine.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the St. Croix River was a heavily trafficked waterway on which vessels of all types carried a variety of cargoes from commercial centers located along both the United States and Canadian sides of the river. The construction in 1856 on Dochet Island of the St. Croix River Light Station (destroyed) underscores the significance of the waterway. Beginning in the 1820s Calais, situated just to the northwest of Whitlocks Mill light, developed into an important lumber shipping terminal. By the turn of the century, the community contained a long and varied list of general merchants and manufacturers. Despite access to the Washington County Railroad much of the city's commerce continued to be dependent on maritime transportation. Not until 1892, however, had the Light-House Board placed an aid to navigation at this site. The red lantern affixed to a tree was finally replaced by the present light station in 1909. The light has been automated and the ancillary buildings sold to a private citizen.
Site Description
Situated on the south bank of the St. Croix River, Whitlocks Mill Light Station consists of a detached conical brick tower, a two-story stuccoed, gambrel-roofed keeper's house, as well as a brick oil house, a pyramidal bell house, and a hip-roofed shed. The entire complex was built in 1909.
The light tower rests on a granite base. Its brick shaft rises to a narrow iron walkway with a railing that projects beyond the conical tower. Behind the railing is an octagonal lantern with a polygonal roof and spherical ventilator. A door is located on the west face of the brick shaft.
The L-shaped keeper's house, which faces the river, is composed of a projecting two-bay gambrel roofed east end and an enclosed porch carrying across the recessed wall of the ell. Four six-over-six windows, a pair on each story, occupy the north gambrel end along with two small attic windows. There is one pedimented dormer on the recessed ell and a pair on the two-bay east elevation. The fenestration pattern in the south gambrel end is similar to the one on the facade.
A rectangular hip-roofed shed adjoins the house's east elevation. It is sheathed in wood shingles.
To the northeast of the dwelling is the brick oil house. Typical of other similar to surviving buildings at Maine light stations, it features a gable roof and a centrally located door surmounted by a narrow vent in one end.
One of only a few extant pyramidal bell houses in Maine, this wooden frame building is covered in wood shingles. Its south-facing front elevation contains a door and a narrow rectangular vent.
Light tower from west (1987)
Keeper's house from northeast (1987)
Bell house from west (1987)
