The first lighthouse on Pemaquid Point was commissioned in 1827 by John Quincy Adams. This, the second, built in 1835, appeared on the Maine State quarter, introduced on June 2, 2003, when the lighthouse was 168 years old.
The surrounding property, with the exception of the lighthouse, was purchased by the Town of Bristol for use as a park. The Keepers House now houses the Fisherman’s Museum, which, along with Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park, is operated by the town.
The Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park is located at the entrance to Muscongus Bay and Johns Bay, in the town of Bristol. The Town of Bristol purchased the park property from the Coast Guard in 1940 with the exception of the light tower. Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park is managed by the Bristol Parks Commission. It is the lighthouse on the Maine State Quarter, making it the first lighthouse to be featured on a piece of US currency. Frequently a choice for destination weddings, the rocky cliffs, crashing waves and beautiful grounds are worth the trip down the peninsula.
From Visit Maine
See a history of the lighthouse and the area, below.
Pemaquid Point Lighthouse
The point, at the entrance to Muscongus Bay to the east and Johns Bay to the west, was the scene of many shipwrecks through the centuries, including the 1635 wreck of the British ship Angel Gabriel.
In May 1826, as maritime trade, fishing, and the shipping of lumber were increasing in midcoast Maine, Congress appropriated $4,000 for the building of a lighthouse at Pemaquid Point. The land was purchased from Samuel and Sarah Martin—descendents of survivors of the Angel Gabriel—for $90.
Jeremiah Berry of Thomaston was contracted to build the conical rubblestone tower, along with a keeper’s dwelling, also built of stone, 20 by 34 feet with an attached kitchen, 10 by 12 feet. Berry completed construction for the sum of $2,800. The fixed white light went into service on November 29, 1827.
The original stone tower didn't last long, possibly because Berry may have used salt water to mix his lime mortar. The contract for a new tower in 1835 stipulated that the mortar was “never to have been wet with salt water.” A conical stone tower was built that year by Joseph Berry of Georgetown, who was the nephew of the builder of the first tower.
A separate request for proposals was advertised in March 1835 for the installation of new lighting apparatus, with consisting of eight oil lamps and eight 14-inch reflectors, which Winslow Lewis completed following his own standard design.
The height of the 1835 tower was 30 feet to the lantern deck, with its diameter of was 16 feet at the base at and 10 feet at the top. The tower was given four windows and a wooden stairway of “good sound hard pine.” Atop the tower, an octagonal, domed iron lantern was installed.
A new lantern was installed in 1856, and the multiple lamps and reflectors were replaced by a fourth-order Fresnel lens with a single lamp. The original keeper’s house was replaced by a wood-frame dwelling during the following year.
A fog bell was added to the station in 1897, and steam engines were installed to operate the bell. Apparently this system didn’t work very well, because in 1899 a striking machine was installed, powered by a hand-cranked clockwork mechanism. The bell house built in 1897 was adapted with the addition of a tall tower to enclose the weights for the new mechanism.
On September 16, 1903, while [Clarence K.] Marr was keeper, the captain of the fishing schooner George F. Edmunds tried to run for South Bristol Harbor in a gale. The vessel was driven by a strong gust into the rocks near Pemaquid Point and was dashed to pieces. The captain and 13 crew members died in the wreck; only two were saved. The captain of another schooner, the Sadie and Lillie, also died near Pemaquid Point in the same storm.
Sidney Baldwin wrote in Casting Off from Boothbay Harbor: “There was a wail of grief all along the coast when the government in its policy of cutting down the Lighthouse Service and transferring it to the Coast Guard electrified Pemaquid Light. There is a big keeper’s house standing empty. The light flashes by day and night with no one to guard it. The necessary work of cleaning the lenses and making minor repairs is done by a visiting light keeper.”
The house didn't remain empty for very long. In March 1940, residents voted at a town meeting to authorize Bristol’s selectmen to purchase the property, except for the lighthouse tower. The town made annual payments for four years, totaling $1,639. The surrounding property became the town’s Lighthouse Park, and the keeper’s house eventually was converted into the Fishermen's Museum.
The museum opened in 1972 and has been operated since then by volunteers from the local area. The museum houses exhibits on the history of the local fishing and lobstering industries, as well as pictures of all the lighthouses on the Maine coast and a fourth-order Fresnel lens from Baker Island Light.
The Pemaquid Group of Artists added an art gallery to Lighthouse Park in 1960.
The roof of the bell house and its weight tower were badly damaged in a storm in April 1991, and later that year Hurricane Bob destroyed the structures.
The structures were reconstructed in the following year. The bell house, with exhibits inside, is opened to the public in summer. The Coast Guard had removed the fog bell in 1937, but a smaller bell was later acquired and displayed on the bell house.
The large parking lot and the museum are open seven days a week in the summer for a small fee.
From New England Lighthouses