Portland Headlight - Cape Elizabeth, ME - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Portland Head Light is the oldest and arguably the most famous and photographed lighthouse in America built by the government. It was constructed at the direction of President George Washington and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton from a design by Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols in 1787.

This historic lighthouse is located in Cape Elizabeth at the entrance to Casco Bay and is now a part of Fort Williams Park. The light has been upgraded over the years. In 1855, a fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed only to be replaced by a second-order Fresnel lens. That in turn was replaced by an aero beacon in 1958 until a DCB-224 aero beacon was installed in 1991.

Portland Head Light is 80 feet above ground and 101 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. The DCB 224 beacon, rated at 200,000 candlepower, is visible from 24 miles out to sea. The grounds, and keeper's house are owned by the town of Cape Elizabeth, while the beacon, and fog signal are owned and maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 1973 (reference #73000121)

Museum and Gift Shop are open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m

Street address: 1000 Shore Rd. Cape Elizabeth, ME United States 04107 County / Borough / Parish: Cumberland Year listed: 1973 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1875-1899, 1750-1799 Historic function: Defense, Domestic, Government, Transportation Current function: Defense, Domestic, Government, Transportation Privately owned?: no Hours of operation: From: 10:00 AM To: 4:00 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   05/04/2025 TheBoz5 visited it 05/04/2025 TheBoz5 visited it 05/04/2025 TheBoz5 visited it 11/15/2024 OcrazyS visited it 10/18/2023 stevepre2 visited it 11/01/2021 Dr.Evil! visited it 09/14/2021 simmsquest visited it 09/06/2019 BuckeyeFinnigan visited it 10/07/2018 THEG-FORCE visited it 09/17/2018 2 Sonians visited it 08/25/2017 wb96bobwhite visited it 09/22/2015 PeterNoG visited it 04/28/2014 tyro-n-www visited it 10/19/2013 tnphotobug visited it 09/16/2013 petendot visited it 07/15/2013 buffalohiker visited it 03/10/2013 samson100 visited it 10/26/2012 UMainah visited it 10/02/2012 C&SL visited it 09/04/2012 famaxe visited it 08/31/2012 Queens Blessing visited it 08/02/2012 SM741 visited it 02/07/2012 scrapcat visited it 10/27/2011 hyperheidi visited it 08/16/2011 VE2YWS visited it

View all visits/logs