Baker Island Light, Cranberry Islands, Me. 516 1-26-1912

Baker Island Light, Cranberry Islands, Me. 516 1-26-1912

"Baker Island Lighthouse, looking north." --Willie Granston, 2011 [The sleeve in which this negative arrived at PMM bore a handwritten description, "Bear Island Light, Mt. Desert Island, Me. 516 1-26-1912," which identified this light as being on Bear Island; it is actually on Baker Island, another one of the Cranberry Islands.--MW, 2011] Baker Island In 1812 William and Anna Gilley and their family moved to unclaimed 123-acre Baker Island, the outermost of the five Cranberry Isles off Mt. Desert Island. When a lighthouse was built in 1828, President John Quincy Adams appointed William Gilley keeper. Keepers' job security was political, and in 1849 William Gilley lost his job. He moved to nearby Duck Island, but two sons remained on Baker Island. They assertively claimed ownership of the island and harassed subsequent keepers. A court verdict gave the government 19 acres and a right of way to the lighthouse, and the Gilleys received the rest of the island. The original rubblestone light tower, 26 feet in height, was built on a high point of land. An inspector's report in 1853 called the light station "absolutely worthless" because of the poor condition of its buildings. A new 43 foot high cylindrical tower was constructed in 1855. The government's 19 acres became part of Acadia National Park with the Coast Guard retaining ownership of the light and a one foot of land around it. The light was deactivated in 1955 but reactivated two years later as an automatic, unattended light.