Lighthouses of Maine – Good Pursuits

Maine Lighthouse — Big sky and big sea can add to a light’s lure, especially when it’s perched up high as Owl Head lighthouse was. In Maine the variety is great but it can be a challenge finding a good view of the lights!

Maine’s coast is rocky and littered with little islands. It’s easy to understand why 82 lighthouses were needed to keep water traffic safe. This density of lights is what drew me to Maine’s coast, along with the promise of a visit to Acadia National Park. What wasn’t expected was the outlandish side trip to Prince Edward Island in Canada.

There’s Something about Lighthouses

It’s amazing what you can learn about yourself. I was looking through my picture database specifically at places where I had taken pictures of lighthouses. There were pictures from five countries and from nine U.S. states. “Why not add to the list?” I thought. Hence this trip.

Among lighthouse enthusiasts Maine is considered the “Mecca” of destinations. Due its rocky coastline Maine has 82 lighthouses. Not all those can be seen from the mainland as many are on offshore islands. Some of those are close enough to be seen but they’re facing the sea and hidden from view. Judging from GPS coordinates and maps the most I was going to be able to find and see were 44 lights and lighthouses.

So how did I do? Quite well. I found and photographed 31 lights. Several I simply didn’t find, others turned out to be on the opposite sides of offshore islands, and some I simply didn’t have the time to go see. Still, finding and shooting 31 is a proud achievement and better still I was able to get good shots of over twenty. These are the ones I share.

Maine Lighthouses

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Over the course of my nine days what else did I do?

Acadia National Park has been on my list ever since Beth and I honeymooned there 25 years ago. It’s smack dab in the middle of lighthouse country so I visited and stayed at a lovely B&B in Bar Harbor called the Moseley Cottage Inn. National Parks never let me down and Acadia maintains the standard as you’ll see in the photo album.

Acadia National Park

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In addition I took a side trip into Canada. There’s no good way to explain why I did this. Perhaps it’s because I find Canada’s smallest province oddly appealing? Perhaps it’s because I didn’t get a chance to run around Prince Edward Isle when last I visited? Perhaps it’s because my daughter Kelsey and I will be visiting in a month and I wanted a dry run? I can’t really explain it; all I can say is that I did it. Starting at its capitol of Charlottetown I drove around the middle third of the island and shot roughly a dozen lighthouses. PEI is a lovely place.