Building Isle au Lighthouse
The need and planning for Robinson Point Fog Station (now referred to as Isle au Haut Lighthouse) was identified 70 years before it was built. A petition was filed with the US Congress requesting a lighthouse station be established on Isle au Haut (IAH) in 1837, but the movement never progressed. In 1855, the US Lighthouse Board recognized there “was a need or a lighthouse on IAH…” In its 1902 Annual Report, The US Lighthouse Board included a lengthy discussion on the reasons for a lighthouse on IAH, specifying it was required for the huge New England ground fishing fleet that needed a safe harbor from winter storms.
Congressman Edwin Burleigh included a plank in the 1904 Republican campaign calling for a lighthouse station in IAH. Finally in 1906, the US Congress passed an appropriation bill for $14,400 “to erect a fog signal station on IAH”. That same year a two-acre plot was purchased from Charles Robinson at what became known as Robinson Point.
Construction of the entire station was completed in 1907, including the keeper’s house and all the attendant buildings. On Christmas Eve, the first light keeper Elmer Holbrook helped his twelve-year-old daughter Esther light the lantern for the very first time. The lighthouse was officially inaugurated the following month.
Depression Years
During the height of the Great Depression, The US Lighthouse Service was pressed to economize by upgrading technology and cutting expenses: in Maine, seven lighthouse stations were closed and auctioned, including IAH. This one was unique from the other six: instead of auctioning the entire station, the tower (Lighthouse) was retained by the government and automated (it was rigged with barriers, the fog bell removed) and only the attendant buildings (Keeper’s House) were offered for sale. In the throes of the Depression, there were no takers.
In 1936, Senator Margaret Chase Smith eventually negotiated a sale of the stations’ attendant buildings (Keeper’s House) back to Charles Robinson, who had sold the bare land to the government thirty years before.
After World War II
After World War II, many of the nation’s lighthouses fell into disrepair. In 1955, the original Fresnel lens from the IAH Lighthouse was replaced with a more modern plastic one. Faced with an uncertain future, the original lens was rescued by a concerned Coast Guard career officer and placed in a Rockland museum where it can still be appreciated today.
Recognizing an emerging awareness of the need to preserve our historic structures, in 1966 Lady Bird Johnson was the force behind passage of the National Historic Preservation Act. This legislation gave the means to protect threatened structures and a methodology of how to restore them. An addendum to the Act specifically for lighthouses was added later.
The 1980’s
Batteries provide an unreliable power source for an unmanned lighthouse – there were many murky nights during those decades when the lighthouse failed to operate. Solar panels for isolated lighthouses became one of the first appropriate uses for this new technology. The IAH Lighthouse once again became a reliable beacon.
The Keeper’s House was purchased by Jeff and Judi Burke in 1986 and converted into an inn. Quickly, the new Keeper’s House Inn received wide national attention as a model for making obsolete lighthouse stations economically viable. With all the attention, the Coast Guard provided a cosmetic restoration to the Lighthouse 1987 and gave the Burkes a license to remove the barricades to the tower so it once again appeared as a single historic property.
All the lighthouse stations in Maine were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. In the case of IAH, both the Lighthouse and the Keeper’s House were registered as a single unit, although the two properties were separately owned.
The 1990’s
Charged with maintaining the hundreds of unmanned obsolete lighthouse stations, the Coast Guard had neither the funds nor the personnel to do its job properly. Scores of them fell into tragic disrepair. By 1993, a frightening bulge appeared on the northeast side of the upper brickwork of the tower. Fragments were failing into the sea.
In 1986, The Island Institute devised a plan to transfer ownership of 28 lighthouse stations in Maine to non-profits that had local interests in caring for them, resulting in Congress passing the Maine Lights Bill. IAH was one of those included. The Town of Isle au Haut formed a Lighthouse Committee and set about applying for the ownership of the Lighthouse, simultaneously raising funds for a soon-to-be-required restoration. After a series of Town Meetings, educational programs, and animated discussions, the Town voted 40-1 to accept the title of the Lighthouse in 1998.
In 1999, a lighthouse restoration contractor scaffolded the entire tower, tore out the northeast side and replaced the rotten brick, replaced the makeshift sash and stainless-steel door, and erected a historically accurate replacement for the elegant railing around the lantern room.
The 2000’s
Problems still existed. The mortar in the granite base was washing out. Spalling of the white painted brick was alarming with wafers of masonry splitting off and raining into the ocean. Original cast iron elements were corroding including the lantern itself. The bridge needed major strengthening. Worst of all, the structural steel girders were failing.
During 2016 the Town of Isle au Haut received a major development grant provided by the State Historic Preservation Office to research these issues and design the most historically accurate measures to fix the problems.
Friends of the Isle au Haut Lighthouse non-profit organization was formed in 2016 to provide further support to this restoration effort and to the lighthouse.
The Keeper’s House is no longer being run as an Inn and is now a private residence.
The people of the island have supported fundraising events including talent shows, triathlons, tee shirt sales, auctions, film series, swimming around the island and generous donations.
In 2021, Knowles Industrial Services was on island for 3 months and stabilized the foundation and tower walls. Pictures of the renovation can be seen here.
In 2024, JB Leslie Co. Inc. arrived on island in early September and completed gallery deck repairs that included glass replacement, vent ball cleaning, metalwork and painting. The entire lighthouse structure has been restored. Pictures of the renovation can be seen here.
Fundraising continues. The access bridge needs to be replaced. There is a safety concern due to wood rot. The JB Leslie crew can complete this work in the Spring of 2025 if we have the funds. Will you help us complete this project by making a donation and keep the lighthouse shining?