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| A nice look, nice view too from Northnet.org |
Deer Island Thorofare is in eastern Penobscot Bay, and the light is just south of Stonington on six acre Mark Island.
Shipping of granite (most cities in the northeast USA were built using Maine granite), and an increase in local fishing made a light necessary. Congress appropriated $5000.00 for the construction and $175.00 for purchase of the island from David Thurlow. The tower is made square and of brick and was attached to a two story keepers quarters. The tower (square) is one of two in Maine that is round inside with a circular staircase, the other is at Fort Point in Stockton Springs.
In 1874 the keeper was gravely ill, he was tended by his wife and she kept the light burning all the while. Mr. Holden died and Melissa Colby Holden, his wife, became the keeper - a first for a woman. Lighthouse keepers wives always kept the dining table set but covered with a cloth. Melissa Holden always, even when Mr. Holden was alive, kept a loaded revolver under the cloth in case someone came on the island. She once emptied a chamber pot on unwitting trespassers, maybe that's where the phrase "shithead" came from, I don't know.
In December 1997 the Coast Guard transferred ownership of the island to the Island Heritage Trust, the public can visit the island by boat. For more information contact The Island Heritage Trust,
P O Box 42, Deer Isle, ME 04627.
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| The location, Deer Isle is at the end of Maine route 15. |
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| A U S Coast Guard photo from the 1870's |
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| A Chip Ross photo of round stairs in a square tower. |
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| An old postcard, americanhistory.si.edu, the Smithsonian. |
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