Monhegan Island Light

MONHEGAN ISLAND LIGHT

MONHEGAN ISLAND 
Station Established: 1824 
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1850 
Operational? YES 
Automated? YES 1959 
Deactivated: n/a 
Foundation Materials: SURFACE ROCK 
Construction Materials: GRANITE BLOCKS 
Tower Shape: CYLINDRICAL 
Markings/Pattern: NATURAL 
Relationship to Other Structure: SEPARATE 
Original Lens: SECOND ORDER, FRESNEL 1856 

Historical Information:

• Second highest lighthouse in Maine – only Sequin Island is higher.
• 1824 – Granite block light tower and wooden keeper’s dwelling built for $3,000.
• 1850-51 – Tower rebuilt due to storm damage and height raised to 48’.
• 1854 – Fog bell installed.
• 1856 – Original lamps replaced by 2nd order Fresnel lens.
• 1870 – Fog bell replaced by Daboll trumpet on Manan Island.
• 1877 – More powerful Daboll installed – older trumpet transferred and reinstalled at Portland Head.
• 1912 – Daboll trumpet replaced by siren.
• 1919 – Cable for phone service installed.
• 1922 – Keeper’s house demolished.
• 1959 – Lighthouse automated.
• 1962 – All buildings except the lighthouse sold to Monhegan Associates.
• 1968 – Museum opened.
• 1985 – Property, excepting the lighthouse, transferred to Monhegan Historical and Cultural Museum Association.
• 1995 – Lighthouse converted to solar power.

Keepers: 

• Thomas B. Seavey (1824-1834)
• George B. Wormell (1834-1841)
• Samuel Abbey (1841-1845)
• Francis Pierce (1845-1849)
• John Hatch (1849)
• James Wallace II (1849-1853)
• Thomas Orne (1853-1857) 
• Sylvester Davis (Assistant, 1855-1857)
• Francis A. Handley (1857-1861) 
• David N. Bond (Assistant, 1857-1859)
• Thomas Kinney (Assistant, 1857-1861) 
• D. Lermond (Assistant, 1859-1861)
• Joseph P. Humphrey (1861-1862) 
• Henry T. Studley (Assistant, 1861-1870) 
• Elisha R. Davis (Assistant, 1861-1872)
• Betty Morrow Humphrey (1862-1880) 
• Thomas Hall (Assistant, 1870-1871) 
• Francis A. Brackett (Assistant, 1871-1872) 
• Bradbury Emerson (Assistant, 1872-1873)
• Sidney G. Studley (Assistant, 1872-1880)
• Andrew J. Marston (Assistant, 1873-1876)
• Sidney G. Studley (1880-1883) 
• Fred F. Humphrey (Assistant, 1880-1901)
• William Stanley (1883-1902) 
• Charles M. Griffin (Assistant, 1901-1904) 
• Daniel Stevens (1902-1919) 
• Walter S. Adams (Assistant, 1904-1907)
• Leo Allen (Assistant, 1907-1909)
• Jerome C. Brawn (Assistant, 1909)
• Charles H. Newman (Assistant, 1909-1911)
• Maurice M. Weaver (Assistant, 1911-1913)
• Lester Leighton (Assistant, 1913-1914)
• W. W. Corbett (Assistant, 1914-1920)
• Herbert Robinson (1919-1922) 
• Harold I. Hutchins (Assistant, 1920-1922)
• Maurice M. Weaver (1922-1924)
• Norman Oliver (1924)
• Charles Dyer (1924-1936)
• William H. Woodward (1936-1937)
• Vinal Foss (1937-1945)
• John Faulkingham (1945-1951)
• William Bardwell (1951-1952)
• Paul Baptiste (1952-1954)
• Henley Day (1954-1956)
• Ernest DeRaps (1956-1957) 
• Davey Blount, Jr. (1957-1960)

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