Portland Head Light

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Portland Head Light is a white lighthouse standing on a rocky headland in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It guards the entrance to the main shipping channel into Portland Harbor, and it is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the United States. It was first lit in 1791, making it the oldest lighthouse in Maine. It stands in Fort Williams Park.

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At a glance

Country: United States
Location: Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA
Built: 1791
Height: 24 m
Type: Tower

Quick answers

Where is Portland Head Light?

Portland Head Light is in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA, United States.

When was Portland Head Light built?

Portland Head Light was built in 1791.

How tall is Portland Head Light?

Portland Head Light is about 24 m tall.

A white lighthouse on a rocky headland, one of the most photographed lighthouses in America.

It was also the first lighthouse built by the United States government. Today the light is automated, and the tower, light and foghorn are looked after by the United States Coast Guard. The former keeper's house is now a maritime museum inside Fort Williams Park.

History

Construction began in 1787 on the orders of George Washington, who set aside a fund of $1,500. He told the masons, Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols, to use stones from nearby fields and shores. The tower was planned to be 58 feet tall, but when it was done the builders saw it would not be visible beyond the headlands to the south, so they added another 20 feet. It was finished on 10 January 1791 and first lit with whale oil lamps.

Changing lights

In 1855 a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed, a glass lens made of rings of prisms that gathers light into a strong beam. It was later replaced by a bigger second-order lens, then in 1958 by an aerobeacon, and in 1991 by the DCB-224 aerobeacon that is still used today. Since then the lens types have changed with technology, while the tower itself, built of rubblestone, still stands on the same headland where it was lit more than two centuries ago.

Fun facts

First lit in 1791, it is the oldest lighthouse in Maine.
George Washington himself ordered the lighthouse to be built.
The tower was raised by another 20 feet after the builders found its light would not clear the headland.
Whale oil lamps lit it at first.