Boon Island Light

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Boon Island Light

(Near York, Maine)

Boon Island is a very desolate island about 9 miles off the coast of York, Maine. The Island is fairly small as well, measuring only about 700 feet by 300 feet and rises about 15 feet above sea level.

The first lighthouse was built in 1799. It was a wooden tower 50 feet tall. Five years after its completion a great storm struck and destroyed it. One year later, in 1805, a stone tower was built. This was used until 1811 when another tower was built. This tower was only 32 feet above sea level. This light, too, was destroyed by a storm in 1831 and another tower built. This remained until the present tower was completed in 1855.

The current tower is a granite cylindrical tower that is 133 feet tall. It is the tallest light tower in New England. It measures 25 feet in diameter at the base of the tower and reduces to 12 feet in diameter at the top. There are 168 stair steps to the top. The tower was fitted with a second-order Fresnel lens.

Being a very low island, storms were particularly dangerous causing damage and flooding of the keeper’s dwelling. The worst storm was probably the blizzard of 1978 that hit New England. The storm was so fierce that the keeper’s dwelling took on five feet of water. The keepers fled to the tower where they were later rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.

The light was automated in 1980. In 1993 the second-order Fresnel lens was removed and a Vega VRB-25 solar powered lens installed. The light can be seen up to 18 miles away. The second-order Fresnel lens is currently on display at Kittery Historical and Naval Museum in Kittery Maine.

In May of 2000 the lighthouse was leased to the American Lighthouse Foundation by the Coast Guard.

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All pictures are the original work of Rick Totton and are protected under copyright laws.

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