Southern Style: Rockland, Maine

Wednesday, July 17th, we headed out of Boothbay and cruised the 47 miles to Rockland, Maine. This is another small to medium sized coastal town. They have a very nice lighthouse museum in town with the largest collection of lighthouse, life saving, and Coast Guard artifacts in the US. Keith and I enjoyed the museum. It was well worth the small admission fee. They have numerous displays and information about Maine lighthouses. There is also a nice 55 minute video about the history of Maine lighthouses.

Lighthouse cleaner, I thought that was fun.

One of dozens of antique Fresnel lenses that are now updated with newer lenses.

Rockland also has a Puffin Visitors Center. We did not get the chance to see the center, but I did some research on Maine puffins. Yes there are puffins in Maine. The North Atlantic puffin is the species found in Maine. This is the smallest of the types of puffins and is exclusively found in the North Atlantic Ocean. Most are located in Iceland and Newfoundland, however the Maine puffin is making quite a comeback thanks to efforts by Stephen Kress and his "Puffin Project". In the early 1900's, the puffins in Maine were over-hunted almost to extinction. In 1973, Kress began his restoration project along with help from Audubon. It has been very successful with two thriving colonies, one on Eastern Egg Island and one on Seal Island just off the mid-coast of Maine.

These islands are only several miles from Rockland and puffin watching cruises are popular in the summer. Puffins breed and rear their young on the islands from April through August. Both the male and female incubate the single egg each pair typically lays and both help rear the chick. Pairs tend to mate for life and return to the same burrow/nest each season. At the end of August the chicks are mature enough to leave with the parents and take to the open ocean where they will spend the months from September until the following April. You can see live Maine puffin cams at: www.explore.org/livecams/puffins. I am hooked.

Here is a shot from a Seal Island burrow with mom and chick

Rockland has two very pretty lighthouses. The Rockland Breakwater Light took 18 years to build. It extends eight tenths of a mile into Rockland Harbor. Nearly 700,000 tons of Maine granite was used to construct the breakwater. A light was first placed at the site in 1888 and moved multiple times as the breakwater was being extended. Once the breakwater was completed in 1900, a permanent lighthouse was erected at the tip of the breakwater. The light was fully automated in 1964 and contains a lamp from New Zealand that can be seen for 17 miles.

Rockland Breakwater Light

Notice the long breakwater coming out to the lighthouse

The second of Rockland's Lighthouses is Owls Head Light which was constructed in 1825. It is located on the tip of a peninsula projecting into Penobscot Bay at the entrance to Rockland Harbor.

The true story of Spot, the keeper's dog, is really sweat. Spot was a springer spaniel that belonged to keeper Agustas Hamor in the 1930's. He had learned to greet passing ships by ringing the fog bell using his teeth to pull on the rope bell. When he received an answer from the ship's fog horn he would bark from the shore until the ship passed the light station. The Matinicus mail boat, captained by Stuart Ames of Rockland, was one of Spot's favorites. During a bad winter storm Mars Ames telephoned the keeper with concern about the mail boat and her husband. She asked if Spot could keep a special lookout. When the keeper noticed that Spot had heard something he let him out to ring the bell but the deep snow kept Spot away from the bell rope. Spot then pushed on through the snow to the edge of the cliff and barked until Capt. Ames heard him and answered with three blasts of his whistle. Now that he had a positive fix on his location the captain guided the mail boat safely into Rockland Harbor. Mrs. Ames called later to express her thanks to Spot. It is said that Spot is buried on the Owls Head Light Station near the site of the fog bell.

Owl's Head Light

Our stay in Rockland at Yachting Solutions Marina was nice. They have a courtesy car which is always helpful and we did make a Walmart run. After an overnight there we headed just 10 miles north to Camden, Maine.

Curtis Island Light at the head of Camden Harbor