Heron Neck Light Station, Vinalhaven Maine
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- Maine
- Lighthouse
Heron Neck Light Station was established in 1853 as a guide to Carvers Harbor and Hurricane Sound. It is a component in the system of navigational aids in Penobscot Bay.
One of the principal communities served by the Heron Neck Light was Vinalhaven located at the north end of Carvers Harbor. Incorporated in 1789, Vinalhaven's population in 1850 was 1,252 persons, most of whom probably combined fishing with limited farming. Later in the century, Vinalhaven witnessed the development of a local granite quarry and tourist industry. The Heron Neck Light was also sited at the southeast entrance to Hurricane Sound, a body of water framing the west side of Vinalhaven Island and punctuated with islets.
Site Description
The Heron Neck Light Station is situated on a bold rock ledge which falls abruptly to the ocean. A station which has undergone numerous changes since it was first constructed in 1853, the present complex consists of a round brick tower connected to a one-and-a-half-story frame keeper's house and an oil house. A detached modern concrete block structure houses the fog horn.
The light tower, erected in 1853, is situated at the head of the range of buildings. Its brick shaft is punctuated on the seaward side by a pair of small stair windows. A wide iron parapet with a railing caps and projects over the tower shaft. The polygonal lantern, which houses a modern beacon, is crowned by an iron roof and ventilator. It is an 1890 replacement of an earlier lantern. A documentary photograph of the tower reveals that it had a narrow parapet around a short brick shaft that supported the original lantern.
A narrow enclosed passageway with a small window on its east side links the tower to the dwelling. This L-shaped frame house was built in 1895-96 to replace the original brick dwelling. It is sheathed in clapboards and wood shingles and has a single window opening (now boarded shut) and two dormers on its south tower elevation. Its west gable end is punctuated by one window on each story. The broader east elevation features a pair of windows on both stories and a clipped gable roof. A small shed-roofed porch shelters the door which opens into the narrow ell. There are two windows on the ell's gable end. Two brick flues punctuate the roof. The house rests on a granite foundation.
The oil house, which was built in 1903, is similar in form to its Maine contemporaries but is constructed of stone. It is covered by a slate roof and has a narrow door and vent in one gable end.
A short distance to the north of the house is the fog horn building. This nearly square hip-roofed structure has a two-leaf steel door on its east wall and a pair of windows on the north elevation. It was built after 1944.
View from east (1986)
