pemaquid point lighthouse // bristol, maine

Happy Tuesday friends! I hope you had a wonderful long weekend!

As I mentioned in my post about a new direction that Caravan Sonnet is heading in (you can read more HERE!) I am excited to spend more time sharing about upstate New York, New York, and New England in my travel posts! Several weeks ago I shared that I am excited to share with y'all some recap posts from the New England Winter Road Trip that I took with my mom 2 years ago about a month before the world stopped due to the pandemic!

At the time I shared a couple of posts about our trip, but with the way the world changed I stopped sharing and didn't get to share even half of what we saw or what we did and so I am excited to revisit this trip and share more! I hope that it encourages you to consider taking a road trip (in part or in whole depending on your circumstances) this winter to this beautiful place in the world!

Today I am excited to start sharing about some more of the places we saw on our New England Winter Road Trip that I didn't share back in 2020! This first place, Pemaquid Point Lighthouse was one of my favorite stops we made and I hope that it will inspire you to go off the beaten trail to see this incredibly beautiful spot of Maine.

After our beautiful and brief stop in newcastle we continued to head north to where we were going to be spending the night in Camden, Maine. As we were driving I saw that there was a lighthouse that was about 35 minutes out of the way and would be a detour that would get us in later than we had originally planned. I didn't know much about this lighthouse and had never come across it on my original research for the trip, but both mom and I were excited to see another lighthouse and so we decided to head over. I am SO glad we did and can't recommend visiting this spot enough!

We arrived as the sun was starting to set which added a beauty to this visit that was simply lovely.

The Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is steeped in a deep history as it was commissioned and built back in 1827 by President John Quincy Adams. Unfortunately the original lighthouse started crumbling because it was poorly constructed (salt water was used in the mortar mixture) and so the lighthouse had to be replaced in 1835.

In the 1835 contract there was a stipulation that was placed that only fresh water could be used in the mortar mixture. Isaac Dunham (the lighthouse keeper) oversaw the project and this time the project was completed properly. One interesting note is that the original light was an Argand-Lewis parabolic reflector that only had a visibility of 2 miles because it was lit with candles. In the early 1850s this changed due to the invention of Augustin Fresnel who found a superior way of focusing light. Interestingly, Pemaquid is one of only six Fresnel lenses to this day that is still in service in Maine.

In 1857 the Lighthouse keepers house was built. One of the most fascinating parts of history regarding the lighthouse to me was about one a Lighthouse keeper at Pemaquid Point named Marcus A Hanna.

Hanna is the only man that has ever been awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Gold Lifesaving Medal. He was awarded the Medal of Honor during the Civil War for bravery on July 4, 1863 and then the Lifesaving Medal for rescuing a life at Cape Elizabeth in 1885 where he once served as a Lighthouse Keeper.

I found that part of the history of the lighthouse incredibly fascinating don't you? There was something so lovely and restful about this area and it made me curious that a man who was so decorated would spend time as the Lighthouse Keeper in this hidden and far away place. It makes me wonder if he found rest and restoration in this space. He was the lighthouse keeper for four years and this little fact of history has struck me deeply.

In 1934 the lighthouse became automated and in later years it was chosen to be featured on the Maine quarter by popular vote of Maine residents. Interestingly, Windows 7 also featured this lighthouse as a choice for a background. And something that I can definitely understand, this is one of the most photographed lighthouses on the Maine Coast.

In 1985 the Pemaquid Lighthouse was added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

The lighthouse is currently owned by the US Coast Guard, but the upkeep and the ongoing restorations are funded solely by visitor donations.

If you are going to plan a visit around the lighthouse you can easily spend lots of time as you spend time at the lighthouse itself and then spend time in the nearby park which offers unlimited ocean views (from a variety of different directions), picnic facilities, an art gallery, and a museum that contains artifacts of the lighthouse.

There is a small fee ($3.00) but because we were there in the winter there was not a fee.

Have y'all visited the Pemaquid Lighthouse before? If not, I definitely recommend adding it to your list of "must see" travel places! You won't regret it!