Columbus Day weekend is my favorite time to visit northern New England, especially Maine. I’ve been to New Hampshire or Maine on Columbus Day weekend many times, whether with my family, with the AMC, or with my friend JB. This year I decided to try something a little different. I would attempt to photograph as many lighthouses as possible during a five-day period (Thursday to Monday). I selected four major lighthouses in particular as prime targets: Portland Head, Pemaquid Point, West Quoddy Head, and Marshall Point. I would stay overnight near each one and photograph each major light twice, once at sunset and once at sunrise. In-between I would photograph as many other lights as I could get to, whether with the intent of creating stock images, or just for the fun of upping my “count”. Read more …
My first stop was Nubble Light, where I caught the last of the day’s clouds before they were swept away. Then on to Portland Head, where I had a completely bare sky. I got a little lost trying to find the motel (I had a strong mental picture where it was supposed to be, but it was not there), then got lost again in the morning going back to Portland Head (went the wrong direction). I think my head just wasn’t in “travel mode”.
I stayed overnight in Portland at the Knight’s Inn, a cheap and drab establishment located about 15 minutes from the lighthouse. It’s simple and has a mini-fridge (which was broken), but no microwave. But the proprietor let me use his microwave oven to heat up my dinner.
I was amazed by how many bike commuters I saw in South Portland, as I was driving to the lighthouses in the morning! I saw more cyclists in Portland Maine than I did Portland, Oregon. Per capita, there has to be 10x more cyclists here than in Providence. And there are lots of bike lanes here, as well. Note to Portland visitors: there are several lighthouses a short distance from PHL, including Portland Harbor Light, Spring Point Ledge Light, and Cape Elisabeth Lights (twin lights). These are definitely a visit, but I did not visit them on this particular trip.
After Portland Head I caught the ferry to Peaks Island, where I did my one non-lighthouse “fun thing:” a 2-hour guided kayak trip in Casco Bay. If I had planned better, I could have asked the tour guide to take me to Ram Island Light, I would have gotten great photos of that and Portland Head from the sea. Then I raced to Bath to try to catch a lighthouse cruise, but I got lost on the way south down the peninsula (neglected to check the map) and missed the cruise. So I turned around and headed to Pemaquid Point, which probably is what I should have planned anyway.
Pemaquid is a famous lighthouse indeed, but in truth it is not really the most beautiful. Its fame comes not from its architecture but from its location, situated on a truly stunning rock formation right at the edge of the sea. There were lots of photographers there at sunset, it was like being in a shoot with my photo club. Everybody was friendly and the atmosphere was warm. After shooting, I headed to the Pioneer Motel, which is about 20 minutes from the lighthouse. The Pioneer is rather simple and even austere, but the room had a microwave oven and mini-fridge. This was enough to cook my little microwave heat-up meal, and that was all that I really needed.
Sunrise at Pemaquid was even better, the light was just right. (this was true with most of the lighthouses on this trip: sunrise is better than sunset!) Still no clouds, but that was OK because the real treat of Pemaquid is the rock formations, probably clouds would be distracting anyhow.
After Pemaquid I drove around trying to find a harbor that was described in my photo book; no luck there. I lingered for breakfast in Damariscotta, which was preparing for a pumpkin festival. Damariscotta is a quaint little town, and it was really entertaining to watch the locals decorate their enormous pumpkins on the main street in preparation for the festival.
While driving around the Bath and Darmariscotta areas, I was struck by how many kayak rental and sales places I have seen. When I lived in Lewiston, I had no idea there was such a flourishing kayak culture here (or bike culture, for that matter). There was no kayak or canoe rental available in Lewiston, where I lived for three years. I had no idea there was such a kayak culture in Maine.
The trip from Pemaquid to Lubec was pretty harsh; I was stopped about four times on Route 1 for traffic (there was a fall festival in Camden which held up traffic for miles) or for construction. It took a lot longer to get to Lubec than I thought, and I had to rush around to shoot the four lighthouses there (two good ones and two that “were there”). It’s a surreal experience going up the Maine coast, though. There’s not much of anything north of Ellsworth, (and there was still one construction stop after Ellsworth!) and the cars start to thin out considerably, and you’re staring at nothing but blank road.
Lubec is a really charming little place, not much to do there but walk around and look at historic sites. It’s remote, and it feels remote. Across the bridge is Campobello Island, which is famous for being the site of FDR’s summer home. I wish I had time to visit FDR’s place, but I just had zero extra time (darn the traffic!). I also would have liked to visit the East Quoddy Head lighthouse (it was low tide, and the light was open for visitors). I didn’t get to visit it, but I did have enough time to photograph it and all the lighthouses in that area, thank goodness. There are two on Campobello Island, one minor spark plug light in the Lubec Channel, and the gem: West Quoddy Head was just spectacular, so beautiful, so remote.
West Quoddy Head also has a museum, but I just missed visiting hours on that one, as well. After sunset I headed to Cohill’s Inn for a nice dinner in their restaurant, while I uploaded photos to my laptop.
Sunday I came back down the coast, and made much better time of it. There was only one minor traffic slowdown, the rest was smooth enough that I felt comfortable stopping for two other lighthouses on the way. One was a small lighthouse I had never heard of (Fort Point Light), but there was a charming sign on Route 1 inviting me to visit. I’ve spent so many hours trying to find obscure lighthouses that are hidden from the public, it was nice to actually have an invitation to visit one. The other was in Rockland, which is way out on the end of a jetty which is much too far. Of course I hiked it, and I was somewhat exhausted and annoyed by the whole experience. But it was a lighthouse, so I had to do it, and I was rewarded with a very quaint museum inside, which was open, and a short climb to the lantern.
Leaving Rockland, I arrived in nearby Port Clyde in time to visit the museum at Marshall Point Light. It’s a small but beautiful museum. It was a little disconcerting that the sun was behind clouds for most of the evening, but it did come out for a few precious minutes right before it fell below the horizon, and the dusk was quite beautiful. So I think it worked out, because i got a variety of conditions to shoot.
Monday morning dawned overcast, wet, and rainy, though. I did slog it out to the Marshall Point lighthouse again, but only took a few shots during a break in the drizzle. Then I hightailed it back to the Seaside Inn, a nice little B&B which is only five minutes drive from the light.
After a superb breakfast by the Innkeeeper, I returned once again to Marshall Point Light to see what I could get. The weather was not ideal, but the light is exquisite in itself, one of my favorites. The next stop was Owl Head Light, a minor harbor light on the way out of town. Then a stop at the Maine Lighthouse museum in Rockland, which contains a truly impressive amount of lighthouse memorabilia, including a ton of lenses and lanterns of different kinds, and models of several Maine lighthouses. Not all of the models appear to be particularly accurate; it seems like anybody who wants to make a lighthouse model can send it to the museum and they will display it. However, the lanterns and other artifacts are stunning, the best collection I’ve ever seen.
After rushing through the museum, I zipped down to bath for a Kennebec harbor cruise with Maine Maritime Museum. This was a tour of five small harbor lights, plus the great Seguin Island Light (total: six). Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed that we didn’t get very close at all to Seguin Island. Also, the weather stubbornly remained overcast, with occasional moments of sun shining through. In fact, the sun did come out for a moment as we passed Doubling Light, which is a quaint light with ramp, which was a lucky break.
Since I was able to fit it into the schedule, I decided to head for Portland Head Light again. Still overcast, I decided to gamble that the sun might make an appearance. I knew that if I got lucky, it could be an incredibly gorgeous sunset. I arrived at Portland Head about 20 minutes before the sunset, but did not get lucky. No sun was to be seen. Next stop: home.
Here is the total list of lighthouses that I photographed on this trip:
Major Lights:
- Nubble Light (York)
- Portland Head Light (Portland)
- Pemaquid Point Light (pemaquid Neck)
- West Quoddy Head Light (Lubec)
- East Quoddy Head Light (Campobello Island)
- Marshall Point Light (Port Clyde)
Minor Lights:
- Ram Island Light (off the coast of Portland)
- Lubec Channel Light (Lubec)
- Cape Elizabeth Light (Cape Elizabeth)
- Mulholland Light (Campobello Island)
- Owl’s Head Light (Owl’s Head)
- Fort Point Light (Stockton Springs)
- Doubling Point Light (Georgetown Island)
- Kennebec River Range Lights (georgetown Island)
- Squirrel Point Light (Georgetown Island)
- Perkins Island Light (Kennebec River)
- Pond Island Light
- Seguin Island Light
More photos of the trip on Flickr.
