This well know lighthouse is located near the fishing village of Port Clyde. It is owned by the town of St. George. A very informative museum and shop is located in what was the keeper’s house. It is filled with historical information and life in general in a fishing village. The lighthouse gained some fame in the movie Forest Gump where Tom Hank’s character concludes his cross-country run on Marshall Point Lighthouse’s distinctive wooden runway.
We drove to the lighthouse from Camden, all the way hoping the fog would not be too bad or would lift entirely. Maybe not too bad and it never lifted. Such can be the nature of photography on the coastline of central Maine! This is the view that you would see on a foggy morning if you were on the porch of the house leaning way over the right railing (to line up with the center of the runway).
The museum is located on the first floor. Notice the wonderful flowers!
This simple image just begs to be developed with some artistic color or texture treatment. For the purist, please see the first post!
This was taken about half way down the runway. Hard to imagine, but the light was lit. Dense fog is one reason a foghorn was used to help guide sailors. Today, a captain at see can dial up a special number and the foghorn will sound every 15 seconds for 15 minutes. The gentleman in the museum set it off for us and says it is probably used for for tourists than captains at sea.
I was hopeful that the fog would lift even more than this. There is actually an island across from the lighthouse, testimony to the narrow channel seafarers had to navigate.
Are you ready to watch this movie, maybe even again?
Just down from. the start of the runway was the lovely collection of tiny bright yellow flowers.
This is one of a series of beautiful quilts designed by the late Janice Tate. They were sold at the annual fund raising bazaar of the Port Clyde Baptist Church. Ladies of the church’s sewing circle appliquéd and embroidered the quilts and helped Janice with the final assembly. Local resident, Philipine Van Zwoll observed that the quilts being purchased were being taken from the area. She felt that at least one of them should stay in the community. In 1992 the quilt as made and she purchased this quilt for $2,200. One the occasion of Janice Tate’s birthday, Philippine generously presented it to the Marshall Point Lighthouse and Museum.
I love reading old newspapers. This one certainly covers an important part of the local history!
Love these curtains!
Each lobsterman has his own registered buoy. Whenever we looked around our schooner we saw many different buoys floating above lobster traps. A lobsterman dare not pull up traps that are not his own - has led to violence!
This is an 1859 photograph of the original keeper’s home and the new Marshall Point Lighthouse. It is the earliest known photograph of the facility. The original tower was probably located where the man on the right was standing and was connected to the home. Congress appropriated funds for the construction of this new tower in 1857. It was built with better materials than the original and was equipped with a 5th order Fresnel lens, which required only a single lamp. The original house was 46 feet long and 20 feet wide. The house was renovated in 1879 but then was extensively damaged by lightning in 1895. It was torn down and replaced with the present home that same year.
This type of anchor is still used on many sailing boats today.
After leaving the lighthouse we drove into Port Clyde. The fog continued to hang around!
This was a great way to end our Maine trip. There will be more photos shared in posts upcoming.