Lighthouses

INDIAN ISLAND LIGHT - Maine

 

Location: Indian Island - Entrance to Rockport Harbor
Currently Operational: No
Year Established: 1850

 

Indian Island Light sits at the eastern entrance to Rockport Harbor in Penobscot Bay and dates back to 1850, when a simple lantern atop the keeper’s house first guided ships into town. By 1856, a fourth-order Fresnel lens had been added, but traffic ebbed and flowed. The light was discontinued in 1859, but then reactivated in 1875 with the square white and black brick tower you see today. Rockport was a busy shipbuilding and lime-export hub back then, and the light helped sailors find safe harbor during its active years.

Indian Island Light was finally decommissioned in 1934 and replaced by an automated beacon on nearby Lowell Rock. Today, the lighthouse complex, including the tower, keeper’s house, barn, and stone oil house, is privately owned and not open to the public. Though you can still admire it from boats or distant shore spots like Rockport Marine Park. Indian Island Light was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

 

Indian Island Light

 

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