TENANTS HARBOR LIGHT
SOUTHERN ISLAND, TENANTS HARBOR, PENOBSCOT BAY, MAINE
Station Established: 1857
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1857
Operational? NO
Automated? N/A
Deactivated: 1933
Foundation Materials: STONE
Construction Materials: BRICKS
Tower Shape: CYLINDRICAL
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/BLACK LANTERN
Relationship to Other Structure: ATTACHED
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL
Historical Information:
- In 1857 a 27 foot tower was built on Southern Island to mark the entrance to Tenants Harbor. The tower was attached to a wooden dwelling by a work shed. The tower was fitted with a fourth order Fresnel lens. The light was 66 feet above the high water mark. Records indicate by the 1900’s a fifth order lens had been installed.
- Other buildings were later added including a boathouse and an oil house and a hand-operated fog bell was later automated.
- Tenants Harbor Light remained in service until 1934. The government auctioned the property and several other lighthouses off at the same time. Tenants Harbor Light changed hands several times. In 1978 it was purchased by artist Andrew Wyeth and his wife. It is currently the home of the Wyeth’s son and his family.
- The light is not open to the public and not an active aid to navigation.
Researched and written by Melissa Buckler, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.