Guiding Lights – Lighthouse at Little River, Maine –

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Cutler is the Northernmost protected harbor in Maine, and a light house was established there in 1847.  The 41-foot tower shown in this photograph was built in 1878, constructed of cast iron lined with bricks.   The keeper’s house, a wood-frame structure, replaced the original stone building in 1888.  The white pyramid is a tower that held the fog bell and a clockwork mechanism that took over the tedious job of ringing the bell every thirty seconds or so (at least on those occasions when the mechanism worked properly.)

The  U.S. Coast Guard took control of America’s lighthouses in 1939.  Little River was staffed until 1975, when a new automatic beacon was built. Then, the facility fell into disrepair and was listed among the most endangered historic properties in Maine.   Volunteers began to restore it in 2000, and the following year, the light house returned to service.  Now owned by the non-profit American Lighthouse Foundation, the island is operated by the Friends of the Little River Lighthouse.  Visitors are welcome during periodic open houses and it’s even possible to book overnight stays in the keeper’s house.

Herbert Bamber’s photograph depicts the silhouette of a figure leaning over the housing of the light beacon inside the top of the tower.  Perhaps this is Lucius Davis, who held the job of keeper at Little River from 1870 to 1896. The full image looks out to the ocean and captures the rugged Maine coastline with a craggy row of sunlit boulders in the foreground.

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