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Name: Browns Head Light   Map it!

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Nearest Town or City:
Vinalhaven, Maine, United States

Location: Northwest end of Vinalhaven Island, Penobscot Bay.


Click to enlarge: Photo   
Photo: Jeremy D'Entremont
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Managing Organization:
Friends of Browns Head Lighthouse

Tower Height: 20

Height of Focal Plane: 39

Characteristic and Range: Fixed white with two red sectors, white visible for 14 nautical miles, red for 11.

Description of Tower: White cylindrical brick tower attached to keeper's house.

This light is operational

Other Buildings?
1857 1.5 story wood keeper's cottage, 1903 oil house.

Earlier Towers?
1832: 20 foot stone tower.

Date Established: 1832

Date Present Tower Built: 1857

Date Automated: 1987

Optics: 1857: Fifth order Fresnel lens; 1902: Fourth order Fresnel lens (still in use).

Fog Signal: 1857: Fog bell with striking mechanism in bell tower; now automated horn with one blast every 10 seconds.

Current Use: Active aid to navigation

Open To Public? Grounds only

Directions:
Vinalhaven is accessible via a car/passenger ferry from Rockland. Call (207) 596-2203 for information. After leaving the ferry in Vinalhaven, turn left, then turn right up High Street. Follow this road for 6.1 miles to a beautiful view toward the Camden Hills. Then take the second left, Crockett River Road, marked by mailboxes. Take the second right up a small hill. From here you'll have a view of the lighthouse and the Fox Islands Thorofare. Some sightseeing cruises in the area may pass Browns Head Light.

Mapquest URL: Click here to get a map to this lighthouse!

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Keepers: David Wooster (1832-1841); John Calderwood (1841-1843); Howland Dyer (1843-1864); William Thomas (1864-1865); Peleg Thomas (1865-1867); Benjamin E. Burgess (1867-1905); Charles Burgess (1905-1910); Alonzo Morong (c. 1928); Ernest V. Talbot (c. 1935); Merrill Poor (Coast Guard, 1945-1955), Ernest DeRaps (Coast Guard, 1961-1962); John Baxter (c. 1973), Charles Lawson (Coast Guard, c. 1970s)


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