Libby Island Light

Libby Island www.fws.gov

  Located at the entrance of Machias Bay, Libby Island is the place where the First Naval Battle of the American Revolution took place.  The land has been farmed since 1760.
  A wooden lighthouse was built around 1817, and the Federal Government built the present Light beginning in 1822.  It was re-built to repair the sloppy work after just a few months.  Sea water does not make good mortar, the tower fell in pieces.
  The original lenses were replaced with a fourth-order Fresnel lens in 1855, and a new lantern and lens was installed in 1876.  In 1876 a bell tower was also added.  The station was automated in 1974, and the property turned over the the U S Fish and Wildlife Service, important studies of sea birds are done on the island.  All of the buildings except the tower and lantern and the fog horn/bell house have been destroyed.  In the summer of 2000 the Coast Guard rework the tower and installed solar panels to power the light.

A photo from the 1800's USCG

A Coast Guard photo from the air, a recent photo you can see the solar panels
to the right of the tower.