Maine Lighthouses 5

Spring Point Ledge Light

This lighthouse marks the dangerous ledge on the west side of the main shipping channel from the south into Portland Harbor. Many vessels ran aground on the ledge before requests from seven steamship companies in 1891 convinced the federal government to build a lighthouse. The steamship companies had carried more than 500,000 passengers through the area during the previous year.  

Built on a cylindrical cast-iron caisson, the lighthouse is a typical "sparkplug" style of the period, but unlike many such structures, the tower is constructed of brick, rather than cast-iron.

The 54 foot lighthouse has a storeroom and cistern in the basement, topped by four levels, including a keeper's office, a watch room and two levels of living quarters.  A fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed and a fog bell hung on the side of the tower, which sounded a double blow every 12 seconds by means of a striking mechanism powered by a clockwork mechanism with 800 pounds of weights..  An oil room in the basement contained a 239-gallon tank for the kerosene that fueled the light in its early days.  It was electrified and automated in 1934.   In 1951 the 900 foot breakwater was constructed joining the lighthouse with the mainland. 

Spring Point Ledge Light was considered a "stag station," with a male keeper and assistant keeper living inside the tower.  Keepers had to be creative in their means of exercise. Somebody figured that it took 56 jogs around the tower's main deck to make one mile. It is told, once, a keeper was running laps in this fashion and forgot to close a trap door. He slipped through the opening and only a ladder prevented him from falling 17 feet to a rock ledge and swirling waves.

The lighthouse is easily accessible and the Spring Point Museum is located on the adjacent Southern Maine Technical College campus.  It is now owned by the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse Trust.  Occasional open houses are held in the summer.