Meema story pages

There’s something special about a lighthouse. <break time="2s"/> This lighthouse marks the entrance to Portland Harbor. <break time="2s"/> Imagine how welcome it made you feel, arriving after days or weeks at sea.

Lighthouses in Maine are beautiful structures in beautiful settings. <break time="2s"/> Perhaps that’s one reason they are a favorite subject of photographers from all over the world.

But in addition to being beautiful, they were also functional. <break time="2s"/> Lighthouses warned ships away from shoales, rocky shorelines and hidden ledges. <break time="2s"/> But they also helped ships offshore navigate to their destination.

What would you like to talk about.

Lighthouses have always been an essential part of our national infrastructure. <break time="2s"/> In 1789, the very first public works act passed by Congress allocated funds to construct this light on Portland Head.

Every lighthouse is different. <break time="2s"/> That's how ships could identify them from many miles away. <break time="2s"/> Notice the red and white stripes? <break time="1s"/> This one on West Quoddy Head is the easternmost point in the United States.

The Cape Neddick Lighthouse may be the most photographed lighthouse in the US. <break time="2s"/> The lighthouse has been standing on Nubble Island since 1879 and is popularly known as Nubble or Nubble Light.

As soon as Americans began touring in cars, Maine lighthouses became a romantic and exciting destination.

The technology inside these aging stone and brick structures was state-of-the-art at the time. <break time="2s"/> Before radio beacons and GPS systems, Maine lighthouses used oil, gas, and electricity to power their lamps to signal ships offshore. <break time="2s"/> Lenses such as these are used to focus the light, increasing their brightness and visibility over greater distances.

Lighthouses were staffed with "keepers" who maintained the lamps and polished the lenses. <break time="2s"/> Isolated and exposed to terrible storms, it was not easy work. <break time="2s"/> This is Isaac H. Grant, the keeper of Whitehead Lighthouse, famous for rescuing two men who had capsized in bad weather about a mile offshore in 1881.