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Owls Head State Park and Lighthouse

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Address: 186 Lighthouse Road, Owls Head, ME 04854

Latitude/Longitude: 44.092145, -69.044116

Web site: click here

Phone: (207) 542-7574

Pricing: Free

Description:

The Owls Head Light and Keeper’s House guards the south entrance to Rockland Harbor.  This structure was built in 1825 for a cost of about $2,700.  Although the tower is rather short at only 26 feet tall with its location on the large promontory it rises about 100 feet above the water and can be seen for 16 miles.

With the Maine coast being famous for its thick fogs that roll in and out on many a day the light is equipped with an extremely powerful fog horn that can be heard all around and will hurt your ears if you are near it unprotected. The tower has been equipped with a fog bell for most of its history to keep ships from crashing on the rocks in times of fog.  There is a story about a keeper’s Springer Spaniel dog named Spot that was trained to pull on the fog-bell rope when he heard a vessel approaching. There is a memorial plaque on site where Spot is buried.

This lighthouse and tower have been named by Coastal Living Magazine and others as the most haunted lighthouse in Maine presumably haunted by several of its past keepers.  You can check this out for yourself when the tower is open Wednesdays from 1-4pm and Saturday and Sundays from 10am to 4pm June through Columbus Day (weather permitting).

Beginning in the summer of 2013, the actual keeper’s house has been converted from an active Coast Guard Station to the new home of the American Lighthouse Foundation’s educational center and gift shop. You can climb the stairs to the tower year round but the visitor center is only open June through mid-October, Wednesday through Saturday 10am to 4pm and varied hours mostly on the weekends the rest of the year.

Owls Head State Park which includes the Owls Head Lighthouse is one of Maine’s smallest state parks but is a real gem.  There are several paths that will lead you to the north and south sides of the promontory.  On the north side there is a small sandy beach, picnic area and great cove for kayaking.  On the south side there are beautiful views of the rugged coast.

From the Author: Word of the Day: As per Wikipedia: A promontory is a prominent mass of land that overlooks lower-lying land or a body of water (where it may be called a peninsula or headland).


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