a flashing
white light every 6 seconds from a focal plane of 56-feet above sea
level that is visible 13 nautical miles. The light station is equipped
with a fog horn that sounds one blast every 10 seconds. The fog horn
operates continuously.
- Reference: 2005 U.S. Coast Guard
Light List
Location:
At mouth of
Little River. - Reference:
1939 U.S.
Lighthouse Service Light List
Coordinates:
44 39 03 N…67
11 32 W
Automated:
1975
Status:
Active aid to
navigation maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. The light station is owned
by the American Lighthouse Foundation through the National Historic
Lighthouse Preservation Act
Light Station
Historical Notes:
The first
lighthouse established at Little River was built in 1847. The need for a
lighthouse was brought about by the increase of trade, shipbuilding and
the
fishing industry in Cutler Harbor – the last protected harbor on the Maine
coast before Canada. The light’s ineffective lamps and reflectors were
replaced by a fifth order Fresnel lens in 1855. The lighthouse was replaced
by a new beacon in 1876, which continues to serve today as an active aid to
navigation. Little River was a three-man station until 1973 when the Coast
Guard changed the station’s personnel to a one-person station. The
lighthouse was automated two years later. By 1980, the Coast Guard decided
to remove the tower’s Fresnel lens and move the light to a skeleton tower
out in front of the historic station. The light station was licensed to the
American Lighthouse Foundation in 2000, and one year later – thanks to the
dedicated efforts of the organization, the light was placed back in the
restored tower and a relighting ceremony took place on
October 2, 2001. Ownership of the historic light station was transferred
from the U.S. Coast Guard to the American Lighthouse Foundation on July
27, 2002 under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.
– (Information courtesy of ALF Historian Jeremy
D'Entremont)
ALF Collection
Little River Lighthouse
To learn more about Little River
Lighthouse and how you can help the Friends of Little River Lighthouse, a
chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation save this
historic beacon click
here!
