The Two Lights of Cape Elizabeth stand up at the end of a long and narrow granite ridge raised fifty or sixty feet above the low ground around it. ...The outlook opened to us here, whether of sea or shore, of windy cape or tumbling surf, is uncommonly fine, if only one could get rid of the train of ideas that these roaring reefs on one hand, and the life-saving station on the other ...so infallibly suggest. Even in the season of calm seas and serene skies these gray little cabins by the sea constantly remind us of lurking dangers... -- Samuel Adams Drake, The Pine Tree Coast, 1891.

To help mark the entrance to Portland's harbor, a 50-foot stone black and white pyramidal day beacon was erected in 1811 at Cape Elizabeth, about five miles southeast of Portland Harbor. The cape, by the way, was named by Capt. John Smith in honor of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I and Queen Anne of Denmark.

The stone marker was torn down in 1828 to make way for the first pair of Cape Elizabeth lighthouses, built for $4,250. The east light was built on the former site of the marker, and the inner or west light was built directly to the west. Elisha Jordan was appointed first keeper at a salary of $450 per year. He remained for six years.

The two 65-foot rubblestone towers served as range lights; mariners approaching Portland Harbor would line them up to know they were on course. The lights were considered among the most important on the coast. Fresnel lenses were installed in the towers in 1855. In 1856, the west light was discontinued for almost a year; it was relighted after many complaints.

In 1861, Asbury Staples, assistant keeper of the west light, enlisted in the Second Maine Battery Light Artillery. His father, Michael Staples, who was also an assistant keeper, requested that his other children, Charles and Amelia, be appointed assistant keepers. Sixteen-year old Amelia Staples and her younger brother became responsible for keeping the light and related equipment. Amelia and Charles assisted in the grim task of draping the towers in black at the news of President Lincoln's assassination.

The lights were repainted in 1865 in an effort to make them easier to recognize in daylight. The west tower received one large vertical red stripe, while the east tower was painted with four horizontal red bands. A steam fog whistle with a powerful eight-second blast was installed in 1869, with a new building to house the equipment.

The fog signal building with a modern foghorn to the left

The original towers were replaced in 1874 by 67-foot cast-iron towers, 300 yards apart. Second-order Fresnel lenses were installed in both towers. The west light was discontinued again in 1882; again it was relighted after complaints that the remaining light was too easily confused with Wood Island Light to the south. The towers were painted brown during two separate periods; they have been white since 1902.

Keeper Hanna was soon asleep. His wife extinguished the lights in both towers after sunrise. Then, at 8:40 a.m., Mrs. Hanna looked out toward the ocean and saw a schooner aground on Dyer's Ledge near the fog signal building. The vessel was the Australia out of Boothbay. The schooner had been headed for Boston with a cargo of ice from the Kennebec River in the hold and 150 barrels of mackerel on deck. The captain had already been swept away by the waves; only two crew members remained alive. The men had climbed to the rigging and were practically frozen alive in the bitter cold.

The keeper's wife shouted to her husband, "There is a vessel ashore near the fog signal!" Hanna rushed to the signal house. Amazingly, Assistant Keeper Staples hadn't seen the wreck through the thick snow. Hanna and Staples hurried to the edge of the water near the schooner.

The keeper said later, "I felt a terrible responsibility thrust upon me, and I resolved to attempt the rescue at any hazard." Hanna tried a number of times to throw a line to the vessel but failed. Feeling the situation was hopeless, Staples returned to the fog signal building. Meanwhile, Hanna's wife alerted neighbors.

Hanna, practically frozen by this time, waded waist-deep into the ocean and again threw a line to the schooner, this time hitting his target. Crewman Irving Pierce managed to pull himself from the rigging and tied the line around himself. Hanna somehow pulled the helpless man through the waves and over the rocks to the shore. According to Hanna, "Pierce's jaws were set; he was totally blind from exposure to the cold, and the expression of his face I shall not soon forget."

After several tries, Hanna landed the line on the Australia again. The other crewman, William Kellar, tied the rope around himself. Hanna's strength was giving out and he faltered as he tried to pull the man to safety. Just then, Assistant Keeper Staples and two neighbors arrived. The four men hauled Kellar to the shore, then carried the two sailors to the fog signal building. The men were given dry clothes and, once they had thawed enough, hot food and drink. After two days they had recovered enough to be taken to Portland by sled.

Six months later, Marcus Hanna received a gold lifesaving medal for "heroism involving great peril to his life," after what has to rank as one of the greatest lifesaving feats at an American lighthouse. In August 1997, the Coast Guard launched a new $12.5 million 175-foot buoy tender named the Marcus Hanna. A replica of Hanna's lifesaving medal is mounted on board. The cutter's home port is South Portland, Maine.

This building, left from the U.S. Coast Guard station at Cape Elizabeth, still serves as Coast Guard housing. The west tower can be seen in the distance at the left.

 

Frank Lewis Cotton was principal keeper 1909 to 1926.

In 1924, the government decided to change all twin light stations to single lights. The west light was extinguished for good. On December 20, 1925, the east light was electrified and increased to 500,000 candlepower, which at the time made it the second most powerful light in New England (after Highland Light on Cape Cod). During World War II, the lantern was removed from the discontinued west light and the tower was converted into an observation post.

In 1934, Keeper Joseph H. Upton, 65 years old, went to the tower to light an auxiliary light in place of the main light, which had failed. About 11:30 p.m., his wife went to the tower and found Upton unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. A fall down the stairs had fractured his skull, and he died in a hospital a short time later. Upton had previously been keeper at White Island Light and assistant keeper at Matinicus Rock.

The last civilian keeper at Cape Elizabeth was Capt. Edward Elliot. During World War II, Elliot was ordered to extinguish the light during a coastal blackout. The keeper also owned a nearby cottage that he rented to a woman who often complained about the lighthouse beam disturbing her sleep. The night he was ordered to turn off the light, Elliot visited the woman and told her he had decided to turn it off so she could sleep better. It wasn't until she read the newspaper that the tenant realized Elliot had been joking.

U.S. Coast Guard photo

Another famous wreck near Two Lights was the coal collier Oakey L. Alexander in 1947. The vessel broke in two eight miles from Cape Elizabeth in a March gale. The stern half, with 32 crew members aboard, drifted onto the rocks near the lighthouse station. Earle Drinkwater and his crew at the nearby Cape Elizabeth Lifeboat Station, with help from other Coast Guardsmen and local fishermen, rescued the entire crew by breeches buoy. The wrecked Alexander remained just offshore at Cape Elizabeth for years and was viewed by countless sightseers.

The 1878 Victorian principal keeper's house is now privately owned. An assistant keeper's house was incorporated into a new home, and another assistant keeper's house was torn down.

After its military use in World War II, the west tower passed into private ownership. It was sold to the highest bidder in 1959 along with several buildings and 10.5 acres of land. In 1971, it was purchased by actor Gary Merrill (Bette Davis' ex-husband) for $28,000. During his time at Cape Elizabeth, Merrill was regarded as an eccentric. Among other things, he gained attention by putting a donkey in the back of his Cadillac convertible and driving through town. He later ran unsuccessfully for the Maine state legislature. The west light was sold twice in the 1980s.

The west tower today

Cape Elizabeth Light was immortalized in a few of Edward Hopper's paintings in the 1920s, one of which was reproduced on a 1970 postage stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of Maine's statehood.

The light was automated in 1963, and the 1,800-pound second order Fresnel lens was removed in 1994. Local residents lobbied for the preservation and display of the lens. It was the last lens floating on a mercury bath in use in New England. The lens is now on display at Cape Elizabeth Town Hall and is insured for up to $500,000.

In 1998, William Kourakos, owner of the keeper's house by the east light, announced that he planned to tear down some additions made to the house in 1979, then enlarge the house and add a built-in garage. The house today is a vastly changed dwelling from the one that was immortalized by Edward Hopper.

Before and after the remodeling of the keeper's house

In May 2000, this historic treasure was licensed by the Coast Guard to the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF). Cape Elizabeth Light, one of the most handsome cast-iron lighthouses in New England, remains an active aid to navigation, and the optic and related equipment are still maintained by the Coast Guard. The grounds immediately around the lighthouse are not open to the public.

In the fall of 2008, the American Lighthouse Foundation contracted Leslie Masonry to carry out repairs on the lighthouse foundation. Click here for details.

Some pictures from a February 2002 visit to the lighthouse:

	The VRB-25 optic now in the lighthouse

 

A view from the top

The view on the left includes the former keeper's house in the foreground and the West Tower in the background. The view on the right is looking out at Casco Bay.

 

Keepers: Elijah Jordan (1828-1834); Charles Staples (1834-1835); George Fickett (1841-1844); Hiram Staples (1844-1849); William Jordan (1849-1853); Ivory Jordan (1853); Nathan Davis (1853-1859); James Tolman Hanna (assistant, 1853-1876); Milton Sibby (1859-1861); J. Mariner (1861-1869); Enoch Dyer (1869-1872); Hezekiah Long (1872-1873); Michael Staples (assistant, c.1860s); Asbury Staples (assistant, c. 1860s); Louise A. Hanna (third assistant (1874-?); William Henry Hanna (assistant, c. 1873-1876); Harry S. Libby (first assistant, 1876-1881); Joseph W. Girty (second assistant, 1878-1880); Charles E. Chase (second assistant, 1880); Atbus R. Angell (second assistant, 1880-1881, first assistant 1881-?); Hiram Staples (second assistant (1881-1886); William G. Williams (second assistant, 1886); Fernando Wallace (second assistant, 1886); Marcus A. Hanna (1873-1888); Leander White (1888-1909); Henry M. Cuskley (assistant, 1897-1903); Arnold B. White (third assistant, 1904-1909); J. M. Austin (assistant, c. early 1900s); James Anderson (assistant, 1917-?); Frank Lewis Cotton (assistant ?-1909, principal keeper 1909-1926); John W. Cameron (third assistant, c. 1920s); Joseph H. Upton (1926-1934, died in service); Edward Elliot (?-1946); Everett Lincoln Marston (Coast Guard assistant ?-1947); William Woodward (1946-?); Clifford Morong (Coast Guard assistant 1946-1955); Joseph Bakken (Coast Guard, c. 1953)