Owls Head (Rockland Harbor), Maine (August 2009)
Owls Head Light sits spectacularly on a scenic outcrop, easily accessible from nearby Rockland, Maine. Quite simply it involves an easy swing along the southern shore of Rockland Harbor to the Town of Owls Head. From there follow Lighthouse Road to its terminus at the large parking lot near the end the promontory (map). The lighthouse marks the rocky southern entrance to the harbor and serves as an active aid to navigation.
Atop a Cliff
The Owls Head Light occupies the highest point of the steep, rocky outcrop where Rockland Harbor meets Western Penobscot Bay. The tower is short, almost stubby, only thirty feet high. It doesn’t have to be tall, however, because its cliffside perch gives it a focal plan of a hundred feet. It is clearly visible to anyone approaching the harbor, and when combined with the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse across the way it delineates safe passage to or from Rockland by sea. I took this photograph as we passed through the channel on the ferry to Vinalhaven Island
It looks deceptively tranquil. That assumption has been proven false many times over the years since 1826 when a light first shone from its tower. Ships wrecked on the rocks in violent storms and relentless fog. Legends such as the “frozen couple” rescued from a nearby shipwreck and a barking dog that warned mariners away from danger only added to its storied reputation over the years. It’s one of the more picturesque and romantic lights to be found along the Maine coastline.
History of the Light
Native Americans lived here for centuries and may have provided a name for it based on natural features in the cliff that seemed to resemble an owl’s head. I had it pointed out to me and could sort-of make it out when I squinted and used my imagination so I can’t vouch for the veracity of the claim. Either way, nobody is really sure how Owls Head came to be named so anybody’s guess is as good as another. It adds to the mystique and ambiance.
People of European descent most definitely visited this location by the early Seventeenth Century. Samuel de Champlain certainly recorded a stop here in 1605. Step forward a couple of centuries and the United States had already gained its independence from Great Britain. Maine became the 23rd of the United States after separating from Massachusetts in 1820, and Rockland become a busy port.
Protecting the Harbor
The jagged southern approach to its harbor clearly needed a lighthouse to guide ship traffic safely to and from the bustling wharves and through the channels of Western Penobscot Bay. President John Quincy Adams granted authority to erect a light at Owls Head in the 1825. A cylindrical brick structure upon a granite foundation rose atop the cliff the following year and a light has remained there ever since. Oil lamps and reflectors provided the original rays of light that pierced gloomy nights and relentless fog. A fourth-order Fresnel lens replaced this system in 1856 and only very recently has it been replaced by modern optics.
Although automated in the 1980’s, Owls Head Light continues to remain an active aid to navigation maintained by the United States Coast Guard.
The Quarters
Lighthouses required constant attention until the modern age. The government built a beautiful wood-frame cottage at Owls Head to shelter the keepers in 1854. This must have been an ideal posting for someone in the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The station offered nice quarters, a beautiful view, and a sense of privacy with proximity to civilization and resupply when needed. The Town of Owls Head sat just a couple miles down the road and Rockland a few miles around the southern arc of the harbor either by foot or by skiff.
The weather could turn nasty though and the lighthouse wasn’t attached physically to the keeper’s cottage. Keepers had to walk up steep wooden stairs to the top of the bluff. That was still a lot better than other lighthouse locations.
Staffing the Light
Civilians manned the station until the 1960’s and the Coast Guard provided a keeper all the way up to 1989. The Coast Guard still uses the quarters for housing — it is not open to the public — although the current occupants do not serve as lighthouse keepers. Rockland serves as an active Coast Guard Station and became an official “Coast Guard City” in 2008. Coast Guard personnel can keep busy along the waterways in plenty of other ways.
The National Register of Historic Places added the entire Lighthouse Station to its list in 1978.
Set Within a Park
Owls Head is more than just a light station, though. It is also a Maine state park with several other activities available. It has a very convenient parking lot to accommodate visitors who wish to visit the light or spend a larger portion of the day here.
The walk to the lighthouse is moderately uphill but not too long or strenuous. We packed a lunch and enjoyed sitting at a picnic table with a stunning view of Western Penobscot Bay as fog rolled in and out of jagged crags. We also took a short hike along the trail to the rocky beach below the lighthouse. Here we climbed among the stones, found great opportunities for beachcombing, and enjoyed the sounds of surf breaking on the shore. The station and its foghorn provided a backdrop almost exactly as someone would expect along Midcoast Maine.
Readers who have an interest in lighthouses might also want to check my Lighthouse Index page.
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