1808 - 2008: Celebrating 200 Years of Lighting Saco Bay.
"Wood Island Lighthouse Bicentennial - 200 years of faithful watch"
July 7th article in the Sun Chronicle newspaper and online at www.keepmecurrent.com.
Click here to read the online article.
Thank you for visiting our web site.
We are the volunteers of the Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse.
As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Wood Island Light, we hope you will spend time exploring our site and, in the process, come to know Wood Island Lighthouse and the work of our group. Perhaps you will become interested in our restoration project and support us in any way that you can. Being associated with a lighthouse connects you to an important and exciting part of the nation's history and a monument to the people who served in the U.S. Light House Service as well as the U.S. Coast Guard. To start you off, here are some facts to help you know Wood Island.
This historic lighthouse, authorized by President Thomas Jefferson, was built in 1808. 2008 is the Bicentennial birthday of the Wood Island Light Station. Our group has assumed the responsibility for its restoration and future use under a license granted by the U.S. Coast Guard. We began in March of 2003 and have made great strides in the five years since we started.
Wood Island is a 35-acre uninhabited island sitting at the mouth of the Saco River just off the coast of Biddeford, Maine. The island hosts a wide variety of birds and is the nesting site for hundreds of seagulls, common eiders and other birds. It is an important stop on the Eastern Seaboard migratory Flyway. The Audubon Society manages almost 30 acres as a bird sanctuary.
The lighthouse, standing on the eastern seaward point of the island, is a picturesque structure consisting of a two-story keeper's house connected to the 42-foot stone tower by an enclosed passageway. A stone oil house is situated nearby. A boathouse, sheltered from the open ocean, sits at the opposite end of the island and is connected to the lighthouse by a raised wooden walkway approximately a half-mile away. The island is a step back in time to the era when ship navigation depended on its light and the task of operating and maintaining the light was performed by a succession of keepers and their families. Today, occasional visitors go to the island in kayaks and small boats to picnic on the lighthouse grounds. The lighthouse is closed to the public, but the Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse began to give tours to small groups in the summer of 2004 making it possible for visitors to see the interior and to learn about the lifestyle of the keepers and their lifesaving heroics. These tours will continue in the summer of 2008.
Wood Island has a storied past. One of our early activities is the research and writing of a detailed account of that past and the people whose service contributed so much to maritime Maine and the country. Visit the History link to learn more about Wood Island's 200 years of history.
We have launched a fundraising campaign to finance the restoration effort. The lighthouse is structurally sound, but much work is needed to put it into stable and attractive condition. Our construction will be made more difficult by the island limitations. Consequently, we need to raise a significant sum of money to restore it and to maintain it for the future.
We are sure you will be enchanted by Wood Island and its lighthouse. We hope your tour of this site will whet your appetite to become involved -- whether near or far away. Thanks again for stopping in and come again.
