Deer Isle Thorofare Light

Coordinates: 44°8′3.72″N 68°42′11.79″W / 44.1343667°N 68.7032750°W

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Deer Island Thorofare Light
Tower


Location	Penobscot Bay, Maine
Coordinates	44°8′3.72″N 68°42′11.79″W / 44.1343667°N 68.7032750°W / 44.1343667; -68.7032750
Constructed	1857
Foundation	Masonry
Construction	Brick
Automated	1958
Height	7.5 m (25 ft)
Shape	Square tower
Markings	White with black lantern and trim
Fog signal	Original: Bell Current: Horn: 1 every 15s, operates continuously

Light
Focal height	52 feet (16 m)
Lens	4th order Fresnel Lens (original), 9.8 inches (250 mm) (current)
Range	8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi)
Characteristic	Fl W 6s

Deer Isle Thorofare Light, also known as Mark Island Light,^[1] is a lighthouse on Penobscot Bay, Maine, about 1.8 nautical miles (3.3 km; 2.1 mi) west-southwest of Stonington.^[2]^[3]^[4] It was built in 1857.

History

The station was established in 1857 with the building of the current small square brick tower and a keeper's house. It was built at the time that the granite quarries on Deer Isle and Crotch Island, immediately to the east, were becoming important for the construction of public buildings throughout the eastern United States. It was automated in 1958. The keeper's house burned down in 1959 and the rest of the buildings were removed shortly thereafter. In 1998 control of the site was passed to the Island Heritage Trust, a local group which preserves historic sites in the area. They have promised to keep the island as a bird sanctuary.^[4]

Location and Nomenclature

It sits on a small island at the west end of the Deer Island Thorofare and of Merchant Row, two east-west passages among the small islands which lie between Deer Isle and Isle au Haut. The island is called "Mark Island" on NOAA charts 13302 and 13313, but "Marks Island" on the larger scale chart 13315. The light is called "Mark Island Light" on an early 20th-century postcard and is still locally referred to by that name. Also confusing is that the large island to the north and the town on it are "Deer Isle", but the passage is "Deer Island Thorofare".

References

^ Deer Isle Lighthouse Trail
^ "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maine". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. 2009-08-06. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
^ United States Coast Guard (2009). Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey. p. 29.
^ ^a ^b Rowlett, Russ (2009-10-03). "Lighthouses of the United States: Eastern Maine". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Main: List of lighthouses in the United States
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* Disputed territory claimed by Maine but de facto controlled by Canada

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