SUMMARY: Winter Harbor Light is a Maine lighthouse located near Winter Harbor. It is situated on Mark Island, a small island between the Schoodic Peninsula and Turtle Island, close to the major harbor of the town. The lighthouse was constructed in 1856 and deactivated in 1933; it no longer serves as a navigational aid and is now privately owned. The 2.8 acre Winter Harbor Light Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 1, 1988.
MORE INFORMATION: Winter Harbor Light Station Facts & Figures
- Station Established: 1856
- First Lit: 1856
- Construction: Material - Brick & Asphalt | Shape - Cylindrical Tower with attached Dwelling
- Markings: White
- Operation: Deactivated - 1933
- Height: Tower - 19 Feet
- Optics: Fifth-Order Fresnel Lens
- Other Existing Structures: 1876 Keeper's House, 1878 Boathouse, 1905 Oil House
- Current Ownership: Privately Owned
Visitor & Tour Information: The lighthouse is privately owned and not open to the public. The Lighthouse Cruise offered by Bar Harbor Whale Watch (207-288-2386) and the cruises offered by Acadian Boat Tours (207-801-2300) provide a closer look at the lighthouse. Take a flight with Scenic Flights of Acadia (207-667-6527) out of Bar Harbor airport for an airborne perspective.
Directions: From Highway 1 approximately west of West Gouldsboro, take the Highway 186 southbound exit. Turn right onto Moore Road, which leads to Acadia National Park, after traveling slightly over seven miles on Route 186. After 1.4 miles, you will enter the park and be on Schoodic Road, a one-way circle that circumnavigates the park. About one mile after entering the park, the lighthouse will be visible on an offshore island.
Lighthouse Trivia: The Winter Island Lighthouse was sold at auction in 1934 for $552 to George Harmon of Bar Harbor. In 1939, Harmon sold Mark Island to Bernice "Bunny" Richmond and her husband Reginald Robinson for $2,000. Bernice wrote two books about the years she and her husband spent on Mark Island: Winter Harbor and Our Island Lighthouse. The next owners wrote The Light in the Tower, a children's book about the Christmas tree they placed in the tower each year for the fisherman, under the pen name Joan Howard in 1957. In 2022, Mark Island and its lighthouse were listed for sale for $2.3 million.
