Pumpkin Island Light Station, Sargentville Maine

Date added: September 30, 2024

Categories:
Maine
Lighthouse

Keeper'S House and Light Tower, Northeast and Northwest Sides (1990)

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Pumpkin Island Light Station, which was established in 1854, was constructed as a guide to the western entrance of Eggemoggin Reach, a narrow body of water that separates Little Dear Isle from the mainland.

The light station on Pumpkin Island was an integral component of a six-unit system of primary navigational aids in East Penobscot Bay. All but two of these stations were built during the 1850s and after the organization of the Light House Board when a complete system of aids was being developed. Located at the western end of Eggemoggin Reach, the Pumpkin Island light provided a guide to this heavily trafficked waterway linking Blue Hill Bay to the east and Penobscot Bay to the west. A dry ledge beacon replaced the station in 1934, and the property was sold to a private citizen.

Site Description

Standing on a small island off the northwestern edge of Little Deer Isle, the Pumpkin Island Light Station consists of a cylindrical brick tower connected to a one-and-a-half-story frame keeper's house, both of which were built in 1854. A frame boathouse and brick oil house stand to the northeast.

The light tower-is a relatively wide and squat structure which is twenty-two feet in height from its base to the middle of the lantern. A pair of windows are located in the northeastern face of the tower and an iron walkway and railing cap the brick shaft. The existing octagonal lantern, which is similar to others on late nineteenth century towers, replaced a larger ten or twelve sided unit. This was done in 1890. A narrow workroom with a door on the southeast side and an opposing window link the tower to the house.

Covered in clapboards, the dwelling has a three-bay facade featuring a side entrance and a pair of six-over-six double-hung sash windows. A dormer added in 1902 surmounts the center window on the facade and there are two at the rear. A bay window has been added to the southwest gable end of the house in front of the recessed one-story frame wing. This 1887 wing is punctuated by a number of door and window openings and has a small shed addition to its gable end. The rear elevation of the main block contains four windows and that of the wing has three. A chimney punctuates the roof of the house and a flue is located in the wing. When built in 1854, the keeper's house, like all of its contemporaries, was sheathed in board-and-batten siding. This material had probably been replaced by the 1880s.

The Boathouse is a rectangular frame building sheathed in wood shingles. It was constructed in 1885 and enlarged in 1906 when a new slip was constructed.

The brick oil house was added to the complex in 1906. It is similar to others built during the period in that it features a gable roof and a door and ventilator in one end.