• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Maine Lights Today

 Exploring the Lighthouses of Maine & more!

  • Home
  • Explore
    • Maine Lighthouse Facts
    • Maine Lighthouses Webcams
    • National Lighthouse Day
  • Light List
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • SHOP

Staying at a Lighthouse

By Bob Trapani, Jr. January 4, 2022

I find these long ago comments by Henry Clay Barnabee, an American singer and actor, to be quite insightful. Staying at or in a lighthouse is an experience like no other. And one need not be a lighthouse enthusiast to feel just how special these places by the sea are – and how purely lighthouses speak to the heart.

Little River Lighthouse
Little River Lighthouse – a sense of place along the Bold Coast of Maine.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)

Having personally spent a number of overnights at Little River Lighthouse in Cutler, I can attest to the realities of Mr. Barnabee’s contemplations. There is solitude, weather, sense of place and a renewal of the spirit – and then there are a myriad of feelings that simply defy words of expression.

Henry Clay Barnabee can take it from here…

“If there is one place on this earth that I have never been in and that I have wanted to visit and to stay in over at least one night, it is a lighthouse. I have never been able to imagine anything so fascinating as to sit at the windows in perfect serenity and to watch the ocean ebb and flow and to note its varying moods of storm, wind and perfect calm – to watch the caressing waves as they foam upon the rocks as if to hold them in close embrace – in the moonlight, to see the heavenly orb as it emerges from the deep where the sky and waters meet, and, as it rises, leaving a trail of crimson or silver over the ripples of the restless sea – and in the tempest, when the Supreme Will that ‘plants its footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm,’ is manifesting His majestic strength and power, to see the gigantic waves as they come rushing with thundering roar and mighty force, as if to sweep the beacon light and its foundations into the caves of the ocean! And through it all to feel the certainty that the light o’erhead was shining out over the angry waters to warn the watchful mariners of danger. There is a sublimity in the whole picture, too deep for any painting.” – Reminiscences of Henry Clay Barnabee, 1913

Atop Little River Light (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)

Historical, Little River Light

Bob Trapani, Jr.

Gleams and Whispers: Maine Lighthouses and Their Allure by Bob Trapani, Jr.

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us On…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

In our Store…

Gleams and Whispers: Maine Lighthouses and Their Allure by Bob Trapani, Jr. Prints and Note Cards Featuring Watercolor designs by Ann-Marie Trapani Shop Moments in Maine

Sign up for Email Newsletter…

Maine Lighthouse Video Series
Enjoy the beauty of Maine’s Lighthouses from the comforts of your home or on the go….
Sign up to receive free videos, latest blog features and more!

Latest Posts…

Buoy tender ABBIE BURGESS

Pondering Abbie Burgess and the ABBIE BURGESS

Pemaquid Point

Pushing the Bounds of Shine

Cape Neddick

Our Lighthouse Past

Isle au Haut

Fresnel Lenses Given a New Watch

Browse Features by Category

Footer

Connect with us on…

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Contact Us

Maine Lights Today
published by Moments in Maine
PO Box 642 | Rockland, ME 04841
T: 207-691-8400

© 2016-2023 Moments in Maine · All Rights Reserved ·