Blue Hill Bay Lighthouse – Brooklin, ME

Blue Hill Bay Lighthouse

Blue Hill Bay Light (+44° 14′ 56.00″, -68° 29′ 55.00”) is located on the small island of Green Island in Blue Hill Bay, 3.7 miles southeast of Brooklin. The station has also been called Sand Island Light, and Eggemogin Light, because it is located at the eastern entrance of Eggemogin Reach. This lighthouse is a well-kept secret today, but in the 19th Century, the light guided many a ship into the busy lumber port of Ellsworth.

The lighthouse is a 22-foot tall, white, cylindrical, brick tower with a short, brick passageway connecting it to a wood-frame, one-and-a-half story, Colonial Cape dwelling. The original structure, outhouse, and barn were built in 1857, when the lighthouse was established by authorization from President Franklin Pierce. In 1905, a brick oil house and boathouse were added. A 1050-gallon tank collected rainwater, which provided water for the keeper and his family. The keeper’s house offers a sweeping 360° view of Blue Hill Bay, Mount Desert Island, Deer Isle, and Eggemogin Reach.

Blue Hill Bay Lighthouse

At high tide, Green Island is tiny, shrinking down to about an acre, but at low tide, the island is larger, with exposed ledges connecting it to nearby Flye Island. The ledges continue just beneath the water’s surface all the way to the mainland, and in the opposite direction, out into the bay, making the entire area hazardous to traffic.

The original beacon at Blue Hill Light was a fourth-order Fresnel lens showing a fixed white light with a visible range of 9 miles. In 1900, a fog bell in a bell tower with automated striking machinery was added. The light was decommissioned in 1933 and replaced in 1935 by a skeleton tower, which is still in use today.

Blue Hill Bay Lighthouse entrance

This lighthouse is best seen from Naskeag Road in Brooklin, or from the water, because the island and lighthouse are privately owned and not open to the public. The Maine Environmental Research Institute operates cruises out of Brooklin. Many of the cruises pass the lighthouse, and the “Ecocruise” almost always does. This lighthouse can also be viewed by air. Acadia Air’s Lighthouse Tour includes views of not only Blue Hill Bay Light, but also Schoodic Peninsula, the Cranberry Islands, Southwest Harbor, Bass Harbor and other area lighthouses.

In 1976, the lighthouse was purchased by Wilbur and Edith Trapp of New Jersey, who had the entire property restored. (They even restored the outhouse.) Since then, the property has been purchased by Jim and Alice Ann Madix. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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