Aerial view of Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Construction of the lighthouse was carried out in 1858, and afterward the remaining amount of $16.65 was returned to the surplus fund. On September 1, 1858, John Thurston climbed the stairs in the tower, lighted the lamp in Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse for the first time, and the beacon began guiding mariners into Bass Harbor and Blue Hill Bay. The lighthouse's white cylindrical tower is only thirty-two feet high, but its light is fifty-six feet above sea level thanks to the granite bluff on which it stands. Originally outfitted with a fifth-order Fresnel lens, the lighthouse was upgraded in 1902 to a fourth-order lens. A red chimney was placed over the lamp inside the lens to produce a colored light that was visible for thirteen nautical miles.

The original keeper’s dwelling was a forty by twenty foot wooden structure connected to the tower by a covered twenty-one-foot-long wooden walkway. The residence had two stories with five rooms, consisting of a kitchen, living room, and dining room on the ground floor, with two bedrooms upstairs. There was an outhouse about fifty feet away from the structure. In 1893, a boathouse with a 100-foot railway was added.

A tall, pyramidal bell tower was added to the station in 1876, and then in 1897 a brick fog signal building was erected a few yards closer to the rocky cliff. A 4,000-pound fog bell was suspended outside the fog signal building. This mighty bronze bell was later replaced by an 1,800 pound version, and then in 1949, a 1,500 pound bell was mounted on a stand near the tower and electrified. A brick oil house was added in 1902, and a barn in 1905.

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Modifications were made to the keeper’s house over the years. In 1900, it was enlarged to add an office and to make the kitchen larger. Upstairs, a third bedroom and a bathroom were added.

The lighthouse was automated in 1974 and remains an active aid to navigation. An occulting red light (four seconds on and one second off) is produced by an acrylic shroud that covers the Fresnel lens. Since automation, it has been the quarters for the Commander of the Coast Guard Group Southwest Harbor. The barn has since been converted into a garage to house the now preferred mode of transportation, but according to one coastguardsman chew-marks are still evident in the wood inside the garage. The grounds are open to the public, although the lighthouse itself is not. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2012, Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse was featured on the back of a quarter issued as part of the U.S. Mint’s “America the Beautiful Quarters Program,” which features one site in each state plus Washington, D.C. and the five U.S. territories.

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References

1. The Keeper’s Log, Spring 2005.