West Quoddy Head in Lubec, Maine

Lubec, Maine

Lubec is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,652 at the 2000 census. Lubec is the easternmost town in the contiguous United States . However, the Aleutian Islands in Alaska extend into the eastern hemisphere, and if territories are included, Point Udall in the...

 is the easternmost point

Extreme points of the United States

This is a list of the extreme points of the United States, the points that are farther north, south, east, or west than any other location in the country. Also included are extreme points in elevation, extreme distances, and other points of peculiar geographic interest.-Northernmost:*Point Barrow,...

 of the contiguous United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and the closest point to Europe from a point in the fifty States. West Quoddy Head overlooks Quoddy Narrows, a strait between Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and the United States. Since 1808, there has been a lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 there to guide ships through the waterway. The current one, with distinctive red-and-white stripes, was built in 1858. Photographs and paintings of this lighthouse are frequently reproduced. The 3rd order Fresnel lens

Fresnel lens

A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...

 is the only 3rd order and one of only eight Fresnel lenses still in use on the Maine Coast.

West Quoddy Head Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

as West Quoddy Head Light Station on July 4, 1980, reference number 80004601.

History

A lighthouse at West Passamaquoddy Head, Maine, was authorized by Congress in 1806. The light station was finished on April 21, 1808, at a cost of $5,000. In 1820, Congress authorized the first fog signal at the station, a 500-pound bell, for a cost of $1,000. The current tower was built in 1858.

Keepers

• The first keeper was Thomas Dexter.
• 1939: Howard Grey was the last civilian keeper of the station prior to its transfer to the U.S. Coast Guard.
• 1962: As of Aug. 15, 1962, BM1 Bruce Keene was OIC, or Officer-in-Charge (dates of the time he began and ended his tour are not known— he served at least through September 1964.) According to documents in the West Quoddy file, his father, LT Thomas Keene, had previously served as the head keeper of the light station.
• 1963: As of Oct. 27, Keene was still OIC and (Engineman?) Richard Copeland was his assistant.
• 1978: Through May 31 the OIC was BM1 Cliffton Scholfield. He had a crew of two assistants: MT2 Carl Hatch and MT# Davis Blanding.
• 1978: On June 1, BM2 George Eaton took over as the OIC of the station. He had two assistants.
• 1979: MK3 Carl Hatch was a member of the crew.
• 1981: As of Sept. 14, the OIC was BM1 John Richardson.
• 1988: The last OIC (keeper) was Malcolm Rouse, USCG.

Gallery