Owls Head Light, Owls Head Me. 127

Owls Head Light, Owls Head Me. 127

"Owls Head Light, Owls Head Me. 127" Lighthouse, Residence, Passageway, Lawn Owls Head Light, Owls Head, Me. 127." Owls Head Light, standing 100 feet on cliffs overlooking Muscle Ridge Channel, marks the entrance to Rockland. The first light station was built in 1825. Today's light dates from 1852 and the keeper's house from 1854. The stairway up to the lighthouse is unique. On December 22, 1850 a fierce storm drove five ships ashore between Rockland and Spruce Head. South of the light, a schooner hit rocks and broke apart. The mate, his fiancée, and a deckhand crawled to the deck, becoming encased in ice. The deckhand cut his way out and went for help. The Owls Head keeper found him and organized a rescue party. They carried the frozen bodies to the house, chipped off the ice, and immersed them in cold water. All survived. Owls Head keeper Augustus Hamor's dog Spot liked to ring the fog bell with his teeth as vessels approached; when boats whistled or rang a bell in response, Spot would bark excitedly. On a stormy night in the 1930s Spot saved the Matinicus mailboat from the rocks. Owls Head Light, automated in 1989, is on the grounds of Owls Head Light State Park. The keeper's house is the American Lighthouse Foundation headquarters. [included in the exhibit "Knox County Through Eastern's Eye"] Owl's Head Light Protected by a headland and Monroe and Sheep Islands, Owl's Head has long been a safe haven for mariners with the earliest natives making their summer hunting and fishing camps here. In 1823 the local customs officer, Hezekiah Prince Jr. reported 25 vessels waiting for fair wind. Shortly thereafter Congress authorized the construction of a light on the headland. Within 2 years a 20-foot tower was completed and the 1st keeper, Isaac Stearns, was on the job with a salary of $350 per year. In 1953 the last civilian keeper, Archford V. Haskins, surrendered responsibility for the light to the U. S. Coast Guard. His daughter still resides in Owl's Head. Over the years Owl's Head Light has been a favorite venue for family picnics; for young people to pledge their love; for novice photographers to hone their skills, easily giving Portland Head and West Quoddy Head a run for their money in a contest for the most photogenic Maine light. Our postcards of the Light show several changes over the years. One dated 1873 shows the keepers house, erected in 1853, as a basic cape line style dwelling without dormers or a sun porch. The siding is all of vertical board and batten rather than the horizontal clapboards in this picture. The walkway to the tower is not covered. A postcard dated 1907 shows dormers on the west side of the keeper's house with the walkway in a different location. Finally, a postcard dated June 1935 shows the keeper's house with dormers on each side of the roof and open sun porch on stone pillars facing to the east and the walkway completely covered. This particular post card is captioned Owl's Head Light, Rockland, Maine, a mistake seen much too often. Submitted by Tom and Linda Christie, Mussel Ridge Historical Society