West Quoddy Head Light

West Quoddy Head Light

Red and white candy-striped West Quoddy Head Light is one of the most frequently depicted American lighthouses on calendars and posters. The picturesque lighthouse stands on the easternmost point of the United States mainland.

In 1806, a group of concerned citizens chose West Quoddy Head as a suitable place for a lighthouse to help mariners coming into the south entrance to Quoddy Roads, between the mainland and Campobello Island. According to some sources, Hopley Yeaton, an officer in the United States Revenue Cutter Service who is regarded as the father of the Coast Guard, played a role in the establishment of the station. Yeaton had retired to a farm in the area and was active in local affairs.

Congress appropriated $5000 for the light station on April 21, 1806. The contractors Beal and Thaxter built the first wooden lighthouse on the site, along with a small dwelling, in 1808. It was the first American lighthouse east of Penobscot Bay.

Station established: 1808
Present lighthouse built: 1857
Automated: 1988
Construction material: Brick
Height of tower: 49 feet; Height offocal plane: 83 feet
Optic: Third-order Fresnel (1858), still in use.

Photo 161, 2012