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(2) Fort Point
The Bell Tower at Fort Point The pyramidal bell tower is one of the few left in New England and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bell, replaced by a foghorn, hangs outside the tower. The lighthouse's 1857 Fresnel lens remains in use. The present 31-foot square brick lighthouse was built in 1857. A new wood-frame two-story keeper's house, attached to the tower, was built the same year. In 1890, a bell tower and a barn were added, and an oil house was built in 1897. All of these buildings are still standing, making Fort Point Light an unusually well-preserved light station. The light was automated in 1988, and Larry Baum was the last Coast Guard keeper at the family station. |
Searsport Charters, LLC (1) Stockton Harbor
(2) Fort Point
(3) The River
(4) Narrows Bridge (5) Fort Knox (6) Bucksport
(7) Verona |
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Fort Point Light was established in 1836 in Stockton Springs, at the west side of the mouth of the Penobscot River, to aid vessels bound for Bangor, a leading lumber port. The lighthouse gets its name from adjacent Fort Pownall, built by order of Massachusetts Governor Pownall (Maine at that time was part of Massachusetts) in 1759 to guard against the French. The first lighthouse was a granite tower. The first keeper was William Clewly, who had sold his land to the government for the station.
Dad was talking with the government carpenter once and the carpenter, a Mr. Reynolds from Fairhaven, said something like, 'Did ya know there's a light in Maine, square on the outside and round on the inside?' and we were amazed. And he said he was told that at the time they built it, they had an old spiral staircase available, but the plans had called for a square outside. So they made it round for the staircase and then square to match the plans. We were amazed and thought, well, how come it had to be square on the outside? I don't know if this story is true or just a lighthouse lore thing that Mr. Reynolds picked up in passing, but this just has to be the one he was talking about.
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Fort Point Lighthouse is a square tower on the outside, but inside its brick lining is round, with a circular iron stairway. No other lighthouse in Maine fits this description. (Dunkirk Lighthouse in New York, and Watch Hill and Beavertail lights in Rhode Island are other square lighthouses with round interiors and stairways.) A letter dated June 2002from Seamond Ponsart Roberts, whose father Octave Ponsart was keeper at several Massachusetts light stations, may explain the mystery of why a round stairway was put in a square tower.
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