Mount Desert Rock
National Archives
Just before Christmas in 1977, a helicopter landed on Mount Desert Rock to pick up the last lightkeepers in nearly a century and a half of duty. Situated on an island 600 yards long by 200 yards wide, the lighthouse and the keeper’s house were considered one of the most isolated lighthouse stations on the Atlantic coast – and one of the most harrowing. With the island only about 30 feet above sea level, the ocean could – and did – wash over its treeless surface during storms, sometimes even coming into the lighthouse and keeper’s house.
French explorer Samuel de Champlain is credited with naming nearby Mount Desert Island and Mount Desert Rock during his visit to the area in 1604. The first lighthouse on the island, which is located roughly 25 miles south of MDI, was put into operation in 1830 and was fueled by whale oil. The current granite tower was built in 1847.
When the station was automated in 1977, the need for on-site resident lighthouse keepers ended, but people still use the lighthouse and the keeper’s house. Bar Harbor’s College of the Atlantic purchased the island from the Coast Guard in 1996. In addition to remaining a navigational aid, the station is now COA’s Edward McC. Blair Marine Research Station where scientists study whales, seals, sharks, seabirds, and the rapidly warming waters of the Gulf of Maine.
