Wood Island Lighthouse

Wood Island Lighthouse, Wood Island, Saco Bay, Biddeford, Maine

Built in 1808.

WOOD ISLAND LIGHT

Location: EAST SIDE WOOD ISLAND/SACO RIVER MOUTH 
Station Established: 1808 
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1858 
Operational? YES 
Automated? YES 1986 
Deactivated: n/a 
Foundation Materials: NATURAL/EMPLACED 
Construction Materials: GRANITE RUBBLE 
Tower Shape: CONICAL 
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/BLACK LANTERN 
Relationship to Other Structure: ATTACHED 
Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1858

Historical Information:

• 1808 – Lighthouse built.
• 1858 – Keeper’s house and fog signal tower added. 4th order Fresnel lens installed.
• 1903 – Oil house built.
• 1960s – Fog bell fell into the sea after the framing was destroyed in a storm. The bell was later recovered and placed in a museum.
• 1966 – 2nd story added to keeper’s house.
• 1972 – Lantern removed to facilitate aero-beacon. A replacement lantern was added later.
• 1986 – Lighthouse automated.

Keepers: 

• Benjamin Cole (1808-1809)
• Philip Goldthwaite (1809-1832)
• Tristam Goldthwaite (1832-1833)
• Abraham Norwood (1833-1841)
• John Adams (1841-unknown)
• Stephen D. Batchelder (1849-unknown)
• Nathaniel Varrell (185?)
• L.F. Varrell (185?)
• Joseph R. Bryant (1854-1861?) 
• Ebenezer Emerson (1861-1865)
• Edwin Tarbox (1865- 1872)
• Albert Norwood (1872-1886)
• Thomas Henry Orcutt (1886-1905)
• Charles A. Burke (1905-1914)
• C.B. Staples (1914-1917)
• W. F. Lurvey (1917-1923)
• Albert Staples (1923-1926)
• George Woodward (1927-1934)

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