Little River Light Station, Cutler Maine
- Categories:
- Maine
- Lighthouse
Established in 1847 and substantially rebuilt in 1876 and 1888, the Little River Light Station is located on Little River Island at the mouth of the Little River. It was built here not only as a guide to the refuge at Cutler Harbor but also as a Navigational aid between the lights at West Quoddy Head to the northeast, Libby Island to the southwest and the Canadian seacoast light at Machias Seal Island.
The small community of Cutler is focused on Cutler Harbor which opens out to the south. Known for its deep, ice-free character and the high protective bluffs that surround it, the harbor provided an important natural resource for the development of the village. Incorporated in 1826, Cutler had a population of 820 persons in 1850. Local nineteenth-century industries included fishing, shipbuilding and a herring box manufactory.
The light station was automated in 1975 and the beacon was removed from the tower to a skeletal frame.
Site Description
The Little River Light Station is composed of a tapered cylindrical iron light tower, a detached two-story frame keeper's house, a boathouse, and an oil house. A skeleton tower at the rock ledge now carries the beacon placed here when the station was automated.
One of only a handful of iron light towers in Maine, this handsome example, which was erected in 1876, is constructed of four distinct sections supported by a steel and brick frame. The tower reaches a height of thirty-five feet from its base to the center of the octagonal lantern. A door is located in the tower's north face and a segmentally arched two-over-two double hung sash window is framed by a bracketed, gabled hood. A small bullseye window is positioned below the wide overhang of the parapet. This deck is supported by handsome brackets with pendants and is framed by a railing with ornamental iron posts. The lantern has a_ typical late nineteenth century configuration with a paneled iron base and a polygonal roof surmounted by a spherical ventilator. A small addition has been made to the tower's southeast face.
The keeper's house at Little River is an L-shaped wooden frame building that rests on a stone foundation. It was built in 1888 to replace the original 1847 stone dwelling. Its front (north) elevation contains a shed-roofed porch that shelters a door and flanking window openings (all window openings have been boarded shut at this station). Both gable ends contain a window on each story, one above the other. The short ell, which projects toward the tower, features a pair of openings on each level. A short shed-roofed porch carries across the west elevation of this ell. Behind it is a second entrance.
A short distance to the west of the dwelling is the oil house. This diminutive brick building was constructed in 1905. It has a gable roof and a door and ventilator in one end.
The rectangular frame boathouse, which was built in 1881, is located at the far western end of the island. A long wooden walkway leads from the boathouse to the dwelling passing the oil house on the way.
Aerial view from east (1987)
