Whitehead Lighthouse and Station, Tenants Harbor Maine

Date added: January 09, 2025

Categories:
Maine
Lighthouse

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The Whitehead Light Station, which occupies Whitehead Island and marks the west entrance to Penobscot Bay, was established in 1804. It is the third oldest station in Maine, although its present components date from the mid to late nineteenth century.

Whitehead Light occupies a strategic location along the shipping routes of the mid-coast. Sited on the west side of Penobscot Bay it guides shipping toward the approach to the important coastal communities of Rockland, Camden, Belfast, and Searsport. During the nineteenth century, these were busy commercial ports whose economic livelihood was for many decades virtually dependent on maritime transportation. The significance of this station is further demonstrated by its secondary sea-coast light classification and the fact that a steam-powered fog signal was erected here in 1869-70. The station was automated in 1982.

Although documentary proof has not as yet been located, the design of the tower is nevertheless attributed to Alexander Parris (1780-1852). This conjecture is supported by the uncanny resemblance of this structure to the 1851 tower at Monhegan which the architect is known to have designed. Furthermore, the highly sophisticated nature of the granite structure typifies Parris's work at other Maine lights including Mount Desert and Saddleback Ledge.

Site Description

The Whitehead Light Station is a complex of six detached structures and buildings consisting of a conical granite light tower, a brick oil house, a detached frame keepers' house, one shed and a fog signal building.

Standing to the east of the keepers' quarters is the light tower, an 1852 replacement of the original structure. Its curved granite blocks, punctuated by four small windows that illuminate the stair, rise in coursed levels to a narrow walkway that is ringed by a simple iron balustrade. The sixteen sided lantern, which houses a modern beacon, has an iron base and conical roof crowned by a spherical ventilator. Projecting from the east side of the tower is a small gable roofed brick service room. Added in 1891, it has a door framed by the gable and a single fifteen pane casement window on the south wall.

The keeper's house is a one-and-a-half-story T-shaped frame building sheathed in clapboards on the first story and wood shingles in the half story. It was built in 1891 on the foundation of the original stone dwelling. Its six-bay front (south) elevation features engaged porches flanking a central pavilion. Each of the recessed walls sheltered by the porch are punctuated by two window openings (these openings, like most of those throughout the complex have been boarded over). Documentary photographs show that the windows have six-over-six double-hung sash. A pair of square posts linked by a slat balustrade support the roof. Centrally located on the roof is a broad gable roofed dormer containing a pair of windows. Behind this are two brick flues rising through the roof ridge. Both side walls are punctuated by three windows on the first story and two in the gable ends. The broad ell has shed roofed vestibules and a window on the side elevations and four windows on the rear, two on each level. A third brick flue is located on the ridge. The entire house rests on a granite foundation.

Some distance to the north of the light tower is the small brick oil house. This gable roofed building, erected in 1891, features a narrow door surmounted by a transom and a ventilator on the roof ridge. A wooden walkway bridges the marsh that separates the rocky ledge from this building.

The fog signal building is a square one-story brick structure covered by a hip roof. It appears to have been erected in 1888 when the Annual Report of the Light House Board mentioned the construction of a new boilerhouse and cistern. The building features an interior chimney and windows or doors in each of its four walls.

Standing between the fog signal building and the 1891 keeper's house is a modern gable roofed shed.

The original configuration of this light station is not positively known. However, it is clearly stated in the 1891 Annual Report that the first dwelling was constructed of rubble stone. This was a typical material employed in such buildings during the period before 1852. The shape of the tower has also not been identified but it was most likely a conical stone structure. At one time this station also featured a rain shed, a covered way between the tower and dwelling and a stone fog signal building.