Harrison - Lighthouses of Bar Harbor and the Acadia Region

This is one of the earliest views of the 1855 Baker Island Lighthouse that was built on a 123-acre island about four miles from Mount Desert Island to replace an earlier 1828 wooden tower. It was built on the highest point of land, which allowed its beam of light to be easily seen by mariners to warn them of the dangerous ledges and nearby sandbar, as well as mark the southwestern approach to Frenchmans Bay. In 1828, William Gilley was appointed the first keeper at Baker Island Lighthouse, a position he held until 1848 when he was fired for not supporting the Whig Party that had come into power after the election. Although Gilley left the island, for a number of years, his sons harassed the succeeding keepers, claiming that they owned the island. Eventually the government won a court case assuring federal ownership of 19 acres of the island. (Courtesy Lighthouse Digest.)

The government may have been testing a system of signal flags at Baker Island Lighthouse. The flags must have proved less than useful as no other photographs showing the signal flags at the lighthouse have surfaced. (Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.)

This rare image shows the back of the keepers house. In later years, the enclosed walkway from the house to the tower was removed. (Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.)

Capt. Howard P. Robbins, shown here with an unidentified person, served as the lighthouse keeper at Baker Island Lighthouse from 1888 to 1902. Robbins had a lengthy career in the Lighthouse Service. He also served as the second assistant keeper at Mount Desert Rock Lighthouse from 1872 to 1882. After Baker Island Lighthouse, he was transferred to Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse in Rockland where he retired at age 71 in 1909. Interestingly, one of Robbinss children married one of the children of Vurney King, who also served as a keeper at Baker Island lighthouse from 1915 to 1928. (Courtesy Harold Robbins.)

George Conners (18601914) served as the lighthouse keeper at Baker Island Lighthouse from 1902 to 1912. The number 2 on his jacket lapel indicates that this photograph was taken when he was the second assistant keeper at Whitehead Lighthouse, where he served from 1899 to 1902. His brother Edmund was also a lighthouse keeper, but served at Petit Manan Lighthouse off the coast of Milbridge. (Courtesy Carol Moffatt.)

Capt. Vurney King started his maritime career by going to sea with his father, Merrill, fishing the waters off the Grand Banks. When he married Maude Kaler of Tremont, he joined the Lighthouse Service and began an 11-year stint at Saddleback Ledge Lighthouse as second assistant keeper, eventually working his way up to head keeper. Sometime around 1912, he was appointed the keeper at Baker Island Lighthouse where he served for 15 years. Being an ingenious keeper, Captain King brought an automobile out to the lighthouse to make his transportation easier around the 123-acre island. (Courtesy Harold Robbins.)

This is Maude Lizzie King, wife of lighthouse keeper Vurney King. When Vurney accepted a transfer to Dices Head Light in Castine, he became the last official keeper of the lighthouse. After Vurneys retirement from the Lighthouse Service, Maude accepted the job as caretaker/ custodian of Dices Head Lighthouse. (Courtesy Harold Robbins.)

Very little is known about the short time that John Elisha and Hannah Marie Bunker were stationed at Baker Island Lighthouse from 1860 to 1861. (Courtesy Lighthouse Digest.)

It was his lighthouse keeper brother-in-law who convinced Joseph Muise to join the Lighthouse Service. Apparently it was wise advice, as Muise went on to serve as a lighthouse keeper for 25 years, first with the Lighthouse Service and then with the U.S. Coast Guard. Married to Annie Seavey, they raised six children at lighthouses, a life that had its happiness as well as tragedy. In November 1932, as Annie was going into labor, a boat was launched to get her to the mainland to a doctor. However, the baby had no intention of waiting and was delivered in the boat about two miles from the mainland. When their oldest child drowned at Baker Island Lighthouse in 1936, Muise requested a transfer and was sent to Moose Peak Lighthouse, a station he had previously served. He retired as a lighthouse keeper in 1951. (Courtesy Ann L. Muise and Lighthouse Digest.)

Although the governments lighthouse tenders would bring a supply of flour and other food staples, often pickled in barrels, it was never enough food to feed the family through the season. Crudely constructed outbuildings served as the first barns for the farm animals kept by the lighthouse keepers. At Baker Island Lighthouse, the keepers had pigs, sheep, cows, ducks, and chickens. They also maintained a large garden for the family. The keepers house had a dirt-floor cellar where the vegetables were stored for the winter months. (Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.)