Notes:
(1) The Pemaquid Peninsular was settled between 1625 to 1629 as the English fur trading center for twenty years. During the Hurricane of Aug 15, 1635, the British 240-ton galleon Angel Gabriel was shipwrecked near Pemaquid Harbor.  The ship and all supplies were destroyed on the rocks of Pemaquid Point and four passengers and one seaman perished.

      As with many isolated English settlements, the village was either destroyed or at war limiting expansion.  In 1692, Fort William Henry was built to guard Pemaquid Harbor and Bristol and prevent French expansion.

      After the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, the mid-coast Maine fishing industry, timber for new ships, and maritime trade began to prosper and Congress approved building a Lighthouse on the the west side of the entrance to Muscongus Bay to mark the entrance to Muscongus Bay and Johns Bay in 1826.

      On June 29, 1827, the Federal Government purchased land from Samuel and Sarah Martin for $90 and Jeremiah Berry, Thomaston brick layer, was contracted by Isaac Ilsley, superintendent of lighthouses, “to build, finish and complete a Lighthouse and dwelling house at Pemaquid Point” for $2,800.  A Conical undressed stone Tower, Lantern Room, and a 34-feet by 20-feet two room one-story stone Keeper’s House was built at the striped (pegmatite) granite headland of Pemaquid Point.

      Isaac Dunham was appointed as the First Light-keeper on November 3, 1827 and the stone Lighthouse was First Lit with 10 Lewis Patent Oil Lamps and 10- 16-inch reflectors.  Light-keeper Isaac Dunham was paid $350 per year and he supplemented his income growing food on his small farm next to the Lighthouse.

      In 1835, the original faulty constructed stone Tower was replaced by a new and present 38-foot high stone Tower constructed by stone mason, Joseph Berry.  The original optics were refitted with a Fourth-order Fresnel Lens in 1856 and the original stone Keeper’s house was replaced by a wood-frame Cape Cod house in 1857.

      In 1897, a Fog Bell Tower and house was built.  The hand operated bell was changed to a Bell controlled by steam engines in 1898.  The system was replaced the next year with a striking machine powered by a clockwork mechanism.  The Fog Bell was removed in 1934 when the Lighthouse became automated.  The original 1897 Fog Signal Building, a combination Pyramidal Tower and Engine House, was destroyed by a storm in 1991 and later reconstructed the following year.

      In 1934, Pemaquid Point Light became the first Maine Lighthouse to be automated and unmanned. The last Light-keeper, Leroy S. Elwell was was transferred on Oct 1, 1934.  In 1940, the Town of Bristol negotiated with the U.S. Government to purchase Pemaquid Point for $1,639 over five years to create Lighthouse Park.

      In 1960, the Pemaquid Group of Artists built a new Pemaquid Art Gallery in Lighthouse Park. On July 1, 1972, the Fishermen’s Museum opened in the former Keeper’s House to exhibit the maritime history of fishing and lobstering in the Net Room and Fish House Room as well as the Fresnel lens from Baker Island Light in the Navigation Room.

      On June 9, 2003, the U.S. Mint launched the the Maine Quarter commemorating Pemaquid Point Lighthouse as the first U.S. circulating coin to feature a historic lighthouse.  Pemaquid Point Light is the bright navigational aid for a 3-mast schooner nearby the rocky granite shoreline to represent the maritime history and popular tourism destination of Maine.

(2) The U.S. Coast Guard licensed the Lighthouse to the American Lighthouse Foundation in May 2000.  The Friends of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, manages the Lighthouse Tower only and the Coast Guard maintains the Light.  Volunteers from the Friends of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse may open the Lighthouse Tower during the summer.  The rest of the property is managed by the Town of Bristol.

(3) Directions from I-95 North:
Take Exit 44 to I-295 N for 27.8-miles to US-1 N (Exit 28) Blue Star Memorial Hwy) for 27.1-miles.  Take the US-1-BR ramp onto US-1 BR for 0.6-miles and Turn slight Right onto onto ME-129 (ME-130, Bristol Road) for 2.9-miles and continue onto ME-130 for 11.9 miles.
Turn Left onto Pemaquid Loop Road for 0.3 miles to the parking lot of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse.  At the gate, there is a small fee to park.

      The Light Tower is closed to the public unless Volunteers from the Friends of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse open the Tower to the public from 1pm to 5pm daily during Memorial Day to Columbus Day period.  The grounds of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park are open year round and Fishermen’s Museum located in the Keeper’s house is open daily during the summer.