Marshall Point Light

Marshall Point Light is a lighthouse at the entrance of the port of Port Clyde, Maine, United States.

Port Clyde is the southernmost settlement on the St. George Peninsula on the Atlantic coast of New England and is part of the urban area of ​​the city of St. George in Knox County.

Built in 1832 nautical beacon was taken on March 23, 1988 as a Historic District in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places under the number 87,002,262.

History

The U.S. Lighthouse Service was founded in 1789.

The history of the Marshall Point Lighthouse dates back to 1831, when a certain Samuel Marshall sold a few acres of U.S. government land on the coast of Maine for $ 120.

The following year, the first lighthouse and a lighthouse keeper's house at the Marshall Point were built for construction costs of approximately 2,900 U.S. dollars of boulders. The round tower had of almost 7 meters in height at the base has a diameter of just under 6, at the head of 3 meters.

The first light tower consisted of seven oil lamps ( four in a row and another three over) with reflectors of approximately 350 millimeters in diameter.

In 1858, a new 8 -meter-high tower of granite and brick, was built on the present site, which cost $ 5,000. It stands directly on the rocky coast line and can only be reached via a long wooden jetty, which was originally reconsidered.

Its cast-iron lamp with a ring or Fresnel lens ( Fresnel lens ) to replace the seven oil lamps.

In 1898 was added a bell tower with a bronze bell. The bell was replaced in 1969 by a foghorn.

The lighthouse light was electrified in 1935. Automation in 1971 made ​​the lighthouse keepers obsolete. The lens was replaced by a new plastic lens. Batteries secure the supply of emergency power.

The first lighthouse keeper's house was destroyed in 1895 by lightning and replaced by a new house in a typical 19th century colonial style in the same year.

After the last lighthouse keeper had moved out in 1971, the house stood empty for long.

In 1988 the house was renovated and furnished in 1990 on the ground floor is a small museum. The upper floor is rented.

Trivia

The American writer Sarah Orne Jewett (* 1849 † 1909) wrote her famous novel The Country of Pointed Firs in the area around the Marshall Point.

In 1993, played a scene from the movie Forrest Gump by Robert Zemeckis at Marshall Point. In its course across the U.S. Forrest (Tom Hanks ) comes as most easterly point on Marshall Point to running over the bridge to the lighthouse and returns here finally back around.