Marshall Point Light

Marshall Point Light Station was established in 1832 to assist boats entering and leaving Port Clyde Harbor in Maine. The original lighthouse was a 20-foot tower lit by seven lard oil lamps with 14-inch reflectors.

In 1857, the original tower was replaced by the current structure – a 31-foot (9.4 m) tall white brick tower on a granite foundation, originally lit with a 5th order Fresnel lens; a raised wooden walkway connects the tower to land.

When the original keeper’s home was destroyed by lightning in 1895, a Colonial Revival style house was built to replace it in addition to an oil house and a bell tower with a 1000-pound bell. The bell was replaced by a fog horn in 1969.

It was not until 1980 that the lighthouse was automated, and the original Fresnel lens was replaced with a modern 12 inches (300 mm) optic. The original lens is now on display at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland.

A few years later, the St. George Historical Society restored the keeper’s house and established the Marshall Point Lighthouse Museum there, presenting the histories of Marshall Point Light and other nearby lighthouses.

The light station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, and can be spotted in the film “Forrest Gump”.