Narraguagus Lighthouse, Milbridge Maine

Date added: January 18, 2025

Categories:
Maine
Lighthouse

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The Narraguagus Light Station was established in 1853 as a guide to navigation in and around Narraguagus Bay. It was built during the most active period of lighthouse construction in Maine which followed the organization of the Light House Board in 1852.

This light station was the primary nineteenth-century navigational aid to Narraguagus Bay. Milbridge, located at the north end of the bay, was a locally important coastal community whose deep harbor was the site of an active ship building industry. Situated at the head of navigation on the Narraguagus River, the town was also the shipping point for lumber manufacturies located upriver, principally at Cherryfield. These principal activities were augmented by other maritime-related industries such as fishing, coasting and lobster processing.

Site Description

Occupying a rock ledge on the east side of Pond Island, the Narraguagus Light Station consists of a circular brick tower joined to a frame keeper's house by way of an L-shaped workroom, Frame sheds stand to the north and west of the dwelling.

The light tower rises to a height of nearly thirty-one feet from its base to the center of the lantern. Erected in 1853 and reinforced in 1894 with additional brick masonry, the tower shaft is punctuated by a trio of two-over-two double-hung sash windows. It is capped by an iron deck and railing. This is the third deck known to have been put into service here. The original was replaced in 1876 and that one was upgraded in 1894. The ten-sided lantern, dating to 1876, is covered by a polygonal roof that is surmounted by a spherical ventilator. Its lens has been removed. In 1887 the larger north wing, which is a remnant of the original dwelling, was converted to a workroom. A cellar and cistern were built beneath it, and a second brick ell constructed to link the house and tower.

Projecting to the west of the tower, the keeper's house is a one-and-a-half-story wooden frame building constructed in 1875. It features an enclosed porch on its east gable end, label moldings at the windows, and a central brick flue. The house is sheathed in clapboards.

The shed which stands to the north of the keeper's house is sheathed in clapboards and covered by a gable roof. Its south gable end features a pair of windows and a door. Additional windows are located on the remaining walls.

Located to the rear of the house, this shed, which is somewhat smaller than its counterpart, is sheathed in board-and-batten siding. Whether it dates to the 1850s when this siding was widely used on frame light station buildings is not as yet known.

When originally constructed in 1853 this station contained a five-bay dwelling surmounted by a centrally placed light tower. This resembled those structures constructed earlier at Grindle Point and Indian Island. In 1875 the new house was built but the tower remained in place on the original dwelling (which was probably brick). Nine years later a portion of this house was removed and the tower was left exposed at one end. Finally, in 1894, the diameter of the tower was increased to its present size. The station was deactivated in 1934 and sold to a private citizen.