For well-nigh two decades, I have beheld the splendid scene of the buoy tender ABBIE BURGESS – one of the United States Coast Guard’s finest cutters, steaming to and fro by Owls Head Lighthouse. And …
matinicus rock
Fresnel Lenses Given a New Watch
These diadems of lighthouse majesty once scintillated like no other at the pinnacle of classical times. And what a splendid age it was! For there was a day when every lighthouse entrusted with the …
New Book Gleams and Whispers Explores How Maine’s Lighthouses Speak to Our Hearts
The mere presence of a lighthouse points to a higher, altruistic purpose – one that is embraced by notions such as romance, mystery, isolation, and heroism. Ask a hundred people what lighthouses mean …
A ‘Story Kind of Nice’ from Matinicus Rock Keeper
The 1950 Christmas season was anything but normal for the keepers on Matinicus Rock. Just one month earlier on November 26, 1950, a storm for the ages battered the Rock with such fury that to this …
A Happy New Year Day
Words from the past can often find relevance in the presence – even when the circumstances have no direct connection. In a letter from the keepers of Matinicus Rock Light Station written ninety-two …
Thanksgiving at The Rock
I was thinking how very different Thanksgiving 2020 feels compared to holidays in years gone by, and how – in some strange way, it mirrors aspects of many a Thanksgiving Day at offshore lighthouses …
Storm Wreaked Havoc on Maine Lighthouses
A late-winter storm caused major damage at a number of Maine lighthouses up and down the coast on March 2 and 3, 1947. At offshore lights like Saddleback Ledge, keepers no doubt were concerned for the …
LEDs are the New Wave of Beacons for Lighthouses
Climb to the top of a Maine lighthouse and one is bound to be astounded by the breathtaking beauty of the surrounding seascape. However, as time marches on and a wave of change rolls in with the tide, …
Matinicus Rock Through the Eyes of an Island Child
Throughout Maine’s long and storied lighthouse history, authors, travel writers and news reporters have yearned to learn more about the lights and those who kept them. And rightfully so, for the …
Matinicus Rock Light Poem
The following poem about Matinicus Rock Light was written by Hilda Thompson of Damariscotta, Maine, and appeared in the January 23, 1939 edition of the Rockland Courier Gazette… Twenty miles from …