Indian Island Light Station, Rockport Maine

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Date added: January 20, 2025
View from northwest (1987)

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Indian Island Light Station was established in 1850. Situated on the west side of Indian Island, the light marked the entrance to Rockport Harbor.

At the time of its initial construction in 1850 the Indian Island Light Station was the principal aid to navigation in and around Rockport Harbor. The well-sheltered and deep harbor at Rockport was a principal reason for the community's development. Known in the first half of the nineteenth century for its ship building activities, Rockport was later the center of an important lime industry, as well as assorted commercial enterprises including ice harvesting and shipping.

The light on Indian Island was originally exhibited from a lantern mounted on the present brick dwelling. However, prior to the publication of the 1861 Light List, the station was deactivated for an as yet unknown reason. In 1874 an appropriation was made to reestablish the light, and on January 15th, 1875, the rebuilt complex was put back into service. The station served for nearly sixty years thereafter until it was sold in 1932.

Site Description

The Indian Island Light Station is composed of a detached tapered brick tower, a one-and-a-half-story T-shaped keeper's house, an oil house, and a pair of frame ancillary buildings. Now privately owned, the tower no longer carries a navigational aid.

Indian Island's light tower, built in 1874-75, bears the distinctive square tapered shape typical of the 1870s. Its brick walls are punctuated by a door and window on the south elevation and a single opening on both the east and west walls. A small gabled brick workroom with a door and two windows projects from the south side. The tower is surmounted by a square iron walkway and railing. At the center of this platform is the octagonal steel lantern crowned by a spherical ventilator. This tower replaced the original light mounted atop the dwelling.

The keeper's house is composed of the original 1850 brick front block with a square frame ell added in 1874-75. It stands to the south of the tower. The five-bay facade contains a centrally located doorway flanked by double-hung sash windows. In the early twentieth century, the door was sheltered by a narrow shed-roofed vestibule. A trio of gable-roofed dormers are located on the front elevation. There is a single window in the south gable end and two on the north side. The ell features a dormer on its north elevation and openings in each wall. Two brick flues punctuate the house's roof.

A gable roofed shed, comprised of two connected buildings, stands to the northeast of the dwelling. The section nearest the house is covered in board-and-batten siding whereas the other is sheathed in wood shingles. Their date of construction is not positively known.

The stone oil house is located north of the light tower. Built in 1904, the building has a door and vent centrally placed in its south gable end.

Indian Island Light Station, Rockport Maine View from northwest (1987)
View from northwest (1987)