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Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse Fun Facts
Location: Casco Bay Entrance / Portland Harbor
Closest City: Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Latitude: 43.5666 Longitude: -70.1992
Body of Water: Casco Bay
Open to Public: No
Station Established: 1828, First Lights
1811, Daymarker Only
Present Tower Activated: 1874
Status of Lights: East Tower - Operational
West Tower - Deactivated, 1924
Tower Heights: 67 ft. each
Optics: VRB-25 Aerobeacon, 1994 (East Tower Only)
Second Order Fresnels, 1854
Argand Lamps, 1828
National Register Reference #: 74000167
Listing Name: Two Lights
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The Cape Elizabeth lighthouse, commonly referred to
as Two Lights, has morphed several times since first being established in 1811. It started as nothing more than a 45 foot, octagonal daymarker topped off with a large capstone. Mariners found the tower a helpful marker for the entrance to Portland Harbor but it was useless at night and in fog. In 1828, two 65 foot rubblestone towers, placed 300 feet apart, were erected on a cliff 125 feet above sea level at a cost of $4,250. One of the towers was equipped with a flashing Argand lamp while the other was given a fixed light. This combination was the first dual light station in Maine and made the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse a unique marker along the coast.
In 1852, the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse station received a fog bell and, in 1854, the lights were upgraded to second order Fresnel lenses. Two years later, the Lighthouse Board announced that the light in the west tower was to be extinguished. Strong negative reaction from local mariners forced the Lighthouse Board to rethink its decision and the west light remained operational. In 1865, the east tower was painted with 4 horizontal red bands and the west tower was given one red vertical stripe to improve daytime recognition. A giant locomotive whistle replaced the fog bell in 1869.
By 1874, nearly a half century after being built, the elements had gotten the best of both towers and they were replaced by a pair of 67 foot cast iron towers which still stand to this day. The second order Fresnel lenses remained as did the practice of having one light flash and the other fixed. A fog siren replaced the steam whistle at the same time.
In January 1885, Cape Elizabeth lighthouse keeper Marcus Hanna, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and Civil War hero, was called upon once again to perform valiantly. On January 28th of that year, the schooner Australia ran aground on Dyer's Ledge near Two Lights.
The captain had already drowned but two of the crew were clinging to the ship's rigging as they became coated with ice. Keeper Hanna secured a weight to the end of a strong line and repeatedly tossed it out to the nearly frozen mariners. One of the men was finally able to grab the line, secure it around his waist, and jump into the sea. Hanna managed single-handedly to pull the sailor ashore. He then threw the line out again to rescue the other man, who was also able to tie the line around his waist. Hanna was at the point of exhaustion pulling the second man ashore when his assistant keeper and a couple neighbors arrived to help. Both men lived to sail again and Hanna earned the Gold Lifesaving Medal for his extraordinary efforts at the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse.
The Lighthouse Service decided in 1924 to discontinue the use of dual lights at all stations. Consequently, the west beacon at Two Lights, as with one of the lamps at the Matinicus Rock light station, was extinguished permanently. The lantern was removed from the tower and replaced by an observation post during World War 2. The west tower and the two-story, Victorian, wood-frame keeper's residence (located near the east tower) were sold to a private party in the 1970s. The east tower was automated in 1963. In 1994, the four million candlepower Fresnel lamp, visible up to 27 miles away, was replaced by a VRB-25 aerobeacon.
The west tower remains under private ownership but, in 2000, the east tower was leased by the Coast Guard to the American Lighthouse Foundation for preservation purposes. The keeper's quarters were sufficiently updated in 1999 that the Maritime Heritage Program now considers the original residence "demolished".
The Cape Elizabeth lighthouse was the first to ever be featured on a U.S. Post Office stamp. While both sites and towers are closed to the public, great photo opportunities are available from the adjacent 41-acre Two Lights State Park, which is open from April 15 to November 1 each year.
Lighthouse Accessibility
- The east and west towers of the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse
site are closed to the public.
- The lighthouse can be viewed and photographed from
Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth.
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