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Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth ME | Nearby Businesses


1000 Shore Rd
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
(207) 799-2661

Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a head of land at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor, which is within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. Completed in 1791, it is the oldest lighthouse in the state of Maine. The light station is automated, and the tower, beacon, and foghorn are maintained by the United States Coast Guard, while the former lighthouse keepers' house is a maritime museum within Fort Williams Park.HistoryConstruction began in 1787 at the directive of George Washington, and was completed on January 10, 1791 using a fund of 1,500 dollars established by him. Whale oil lamps were originally used for illumination. In 1855, following formation of the Lighthouse Board, a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed; that lens was replaced by a second-order Fresnel lens, which was replaced later by an aero beacon in 1958. That lens was updated with an DCB-224 aero beacon in 1991.In 1787, while Maine was still part of the state of Massachusetts, George Washington engaged two masons from the town of Portland, Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols, and instructed them to take charge of the construction of a lighthouse on Portland Head. Washington reminded them that the early government was poor, and said that the materials used to build the lighthouse should be taken from the fields and shores, which could be handled nicely when hauled by oxen on a drag. The original plans called for the tower to be 58 feet tall. When the masons completed this task they climbed to the top of the tower and realized that it would not be visible beyond the headlands to the south, so it was raised approximately 20 feet.

Beach Near Portland Head Light

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse
Distance: 0.0 mi Competitive Analysis
Fort Williams
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107

Landmark and Historical Place Near Portland Head Light

Portland Head Light
Distance: 0.0 mi Competitive Analysis
1000 Shore Rd
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04106
(207) 799-2661

Portland Head Light ist der älteste Leuchtturm des US-amerikanischen Bundesstaates Maine.Bereits 1787 begann die Konstruktion des Bauwerks südlich der Hafenstadt Portland, die aber nach kurzer Zeit aufgrund mangelnder Finanzierung abgebrochen wurde. Der erste Kongress der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika stellte 1789 1.500 Dollar zur Fertigstellung des Leuchtturms zur Verfügung. Nach der 1790 erfolgten Fertigstellung bestimmte George Washington Captain Joseph Greenleaf zum ersten Leuchtturmwärter.Der ursprünglich 72 ft. (ca. 20 m) hohe, aus Feldsteinen errichtete Turm wurde 1813 um etwa ein Drittel gekürzt.Nach dem Untergang des Ozeandampfers "Bohemia" 1865 an der Küste von Cape Elizabeth mit 42 Todesopfern folgte eine Generalüberholung, nach 70 Jahren eine weitere Abtragung. Der Protest von Anwohnern führte dazu, dass diese zweite Abtragung rückgängig gemacht wurde; die Rekonstruktion erfolgte diesmal mittels Ziegelbaustein.Heute ist der Turm 80 ft. (ca. 23 m) hoch und sendet in einer Höhe von 101 ft. (ca. 28 m) oberhalb des Meeresspiegels weißes Licht aus.Die Stadt Cape Elizabeth betreibt im 1891 errichteten Haus des Leuchtturmwärters ein Museum, welches von Mitte April bis Mitte Dezember Ausstellungsstücke zur Geschichte des Leuchtturms zeigt. Am 24. April 1973 wurde der Leuchtturm als Baudenkmal in das National Register of Historic Places aufgenommen. Im Jahr 2002 folgte der Eintrag in die List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks durch die American Society of Civil Engineers.

Beckett's Castle
Distance: 0.6 mi Competitive Analysis
77 Off Rd
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107

Beckett's Castle is a historic summer house on Singles Road in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. A picturesque two-story stone building with a three-story tower, it was built in 1871-74 by Sylvester Beckett, a Portland lawyer and a major figure in the city's literary scene. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, for its association with Beckett, and for its distinctive Gothic architecture.Description and historyBeckett's Castle is set facing Casco Bay on the east side of Cape Elizabeth, at the end of Singles Road, a private lane off Shore Road. It is a two story masonry structure, built of local gray fieldstone laid in irregular courses, and with a three-story square tower projecting south from its southeast corner. The roof is gabled, with steeply pitched gables at the ends and on the south (front) facade. The main entrance is on the south side of the tower, with a three-part window on the main facade to its left. The tower has three stages, each slightly smaller than the one below, with a projecting beltcourse at the top of each stage. At the top is a modillioned cornice with a short observation area above, topped by a hip roof. The building interior has restrained period woodwork.The castle was constructed by the labor of Sylvester Beckett, a Portland-born son of English immigrants who trained and worked as a lawyer, but also worked as a journalist and writer, and had an amateur interest in ornithology. Beckett was a major social force in Portland's literary community, hosting social gatherings here that included expansive dinners cooked in a rustic fireplace.