Surf & Rock, Goat Island, Cape Porpoise, Me. 10a.

Surf & Rock, Goat Island, Cape Porpoise, Me. 10a.

"Surf & Rock, Goat Island, Cape Porpoise, Me. 10a." C: 1915-20, Lighthouse Surf & Rock, Goat Island, Cape Porpoise, Me. 10A. Captain John Smith, early explorer of the Maine coast, named this cape, now part of Kennebunk, for the school of porpoises he saw there. By the 1800s the sheltered harbor of the fishing village of Cape Porpoise was well known. Treacherous ledges and rocky islets surrounded nearby Goat Island, and many vessels wrecked on them. In 1833 a light station was established on the island to guide many vessels to safety, but others continued to wreck on the rocks. Between 1865 and 1920, 46 vessels were wrecked in the area. The lighthouse keepers made many rescues, and no lives were lost. The original 1833 stone tower and keeper's house were rebuilt in 1859. In 1959 a fog horn replaced the bell to the left of the tower. The Kennebunk Conservation Trust, now the property owner, is restoring the light station to its 1950s appearance, and has rebuilt the covered walkway between the lighthouse and dwelling, (just out of the photo), which was destroyed in 1978 In 1990 Goat Island became the last lighthouse in Maine to be automated, and keeper Brad Culp, his wife, and their two children, the state's last traditional lighthouse family, moved off the island.