Year first constructed 1855 Automated 1934 Foundation Granite block caisson Opened 1855 Added to NRHP 19 June 1973 | Year first lit 1875 (current tower) Deactivated 1942 Height 9.14 m Engineer Alexander Mitchell Architect Thomas Ustick Walter | |
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Location NE end of Portland Breakwater in Portland Harbor, South Portland, Maine Address S Portland Greenbelt Pathway, South Portland, ME 04106, USA Architectural style Greek Revival architecture Similar Bug Light Park, Spring Point Ledge Li, Portland Head Light, Rockland Harbor Breakwat, Ram Island Ledge Light | ||
Bug lighthouse south portland maine
The Portland Breakwater Light (also called Bug Light) is a small lighthouse in South Portland, Maine.
Contents
Portland breakwater light bug light at sunrise
History
The lighthouse was first built in 1855, as a wooden structure, but the breakwater was extended and a new lighthouse was constructed at the end of it in 1875. The new lighthouse was made of curved cast-iron plates whose seams are disguised by six decorative Corinthian columns. Its design was inspired by the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, made well known by engravings. The architect was Thomas U. Walter, most noted as the designer of the U.S. Capitol east and west wings and its current dome. Wooden sheds and a six-room house for the lighthouse-keeper were added incrementally as needed. In 1897 Spring Point Ledge Light was erected and the houses around Bug Light were demolished and the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse keepers tended to both lighthouses. During World War II, the breakwater was slowly absorbed by landfill as the New England Shipbuilding Corporation built two shipyards next to the lighthouse. These shipyards produced Liberty Ships for the war effort. Because of the smaller breakwater, there was a lesser need for the lighthouse and it was decommissioned in 1943.
Restoration
The light was fully restored in 1989 and was reactivated in 2002. It appears as a private aid to navigation in the US Coast Guard Light List as South Portland Breakwater Light. Today a park named after the lighthouse, Bug Light Park, allows visitors to view the Portland Breakwater Light up close, while memorializing the shipbuilding efforts of World War II. The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Portland Breakwater Light on June 19, 1973, reference number 73000238.