Portland Head Light

Construction was authorised while Maine was still part of Massachusetts and the light was first lit in January 1791, which makes it the oldest lighthouse in the state - the tower has been raised and altered since, and the station is now automated. It stands at the edge of Fort Williams Park on a shelf of dark rock where the sea breaks hard, with the keeper's house beside it now holding a small museum on the light and the wrecks off this shore. The park around it is the old coastal artillery post, open ground with paths, gun emplacements and a beach. Edward Hopper painted it in 1927, and his watercolour hangs in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

Highlights

• A tower first lit in 1791 - the oldest in Maine, still working.
• The keeper's house museum - on the light and the local wrecks.
• Fort Williams Park around it - old gun emplacements and paths.
• Dark rock and heavy surf - the setting that made the photographs.

When to go

May to October; early morning for light and space. Two hours.

Before you go

Summer weekends fill the park and the parking. The tower itself is not open to climb. The museum keeps a short season. Wind off the water is cold even in July.

Nearby

Portland is north; Cape Elizabeth's beaches are south.

Key facts