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South Addison, ME
36 feet tall; light is 51 feet above water.
It’s far from the beaten path and will never be a tourist attraction. But this old Maine lighthouse and a resident flock of sheep give Nash Island kind of a quaint, old-world feel.
Jeremy’s Lighthouse Guide #49
In the 1830s dozens of vessels were built and launched in the coastal Maine towns of Columbia, Columbia Falls, and Addison, all on the Pleasant River. The area was bustling with coastal trade and the export of lumber, granite, and fish. Passenger steamships also passed through the area.
In 1837 Congress authorized the construction of a lighthouse at the mouth of the river, and the site chosen was Nash Island. A round lighthouse tower and a keeper’s house were built for $5,000 in 1838. Just five years later it was reported that the roof was leaky and the east side of the tower was badly cracked. The tower was rebuilt in 1873, and the 51-foot square brick lighthouse still stands.
Allen Carter Holt was keeper from 1910 to 1916. Keeper Holt's children were assigned the task of counting gull nests for the Audubon Society. They counted 1,300 nests on nearby Cone Island, with an average of four eggs per nest.
In 1947 the Coast Guard destroyed all the buildings except for the tower. The light was discontinued in 1982 and replaced by an offshore buoy.
Genevieve "Jenny" Purington Cirone, whose father, John Purington, was keeper from 1916 to 1935, grew up at the lighthouse and later owned half of the island, as well as nearby Big Nash Island. Jenny started raising sheep when she was a girl, and continued to keep sheep on her islands for the rest of her life. Jenny was a very popular local resident, and it was largely her inspiration that has led to strong interest in the preservation of Nash Island Lighthouse. Jenny Cirone died at her home in early 2004 at the age of 91.
In 1998, the lighthouse was transferred to the Friends of Nash Island Light
. The volunteer group has restored the exterior of the tower. The windows have been replaced, and much of the brickwork has been repositioned and re-mortared. The entire outer surface has been scraped and repainted, and work on the interior continues.
Read much more HISTORY about this lighthouse
Copyright 2005 by Jeremy D'Entremont,New England Lighthouses
Photos are the property of the author and may not be used without permission.
Photos above from Jeremy D'Entremont.
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