Baker Island Light (ME)

Nov. 6, 2019
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Baker Island Light, Baker Island, Cranberry Isles, Maine

Built in 1828.

BAKER ISLAND LIGHT

Location: MT. DESERT ISLAND/SOMES SOUND APPROACH
Station Established: 1828 
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1855 
Operational? YES 
Automated? YES 1966 
Deactivated: n/a 
Foundation Materials: NATURAL/EMPLACED 
Construction Materials: BRICK 
Tower Shape: CYLINDRICAL 
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/BLACK LANTERN 
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE 
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1855 

Historical Information:

  • 1828 – Lighthouse station established by order of President John Quincy Adams. Wooden lighthouse built on highest point of the island.
  • 1855 – Present structure built, 4th order lens installed. Fuel changed from whale oil to lard oil.
  • 1895 – Oil house built.
  • 1903 – Lighthouse sheathed in an extra course of bricks in order to strengthen its framework.
  • 1905 – Storage shed built.
  • 1966 – Light automated – lens replaced by plastic lens.

Keepers: 

  • William Gilley (1828-1848)
  • John Rich (1849-1853)
  • Joseph Bunker (1853-1860)
  • John Bunker (1860-1861)
  • Freeman G. Young (1861-1867)
  • Alden H. Jordan (1867-1883)
  • Roscoe G. Lopaus (1883-1888)
  • Howard P. Robbins (1888-1902)
  • George Connors (c. 1902-1912)
  • Vurney L. King (c. 1912 - ?)
  • Joseph Muise (?-c.1936)
  • F. Faulkingham (c. 1935)
  • Wayne Edson Holcomb (1944-1945)
  • Ernest Mathie (c. 1950)
  • Coleman (c. 1950)
  • Clements (c. 1953)

Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.