National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Historic Architecture Program Northeast Region Baker Island Light Station Acadia National Park, Maine Historic Structure Report Baker Island Light Station Historic Structure Report Acadia National Park, Maine By Barbara A. Yocum, Architectural Conservator Historic Structure Research & Documentation Branch Historic Architecture, Conservation & Engineering Center Northeast Region, National Park Service Lowell, Massachusetts 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES and CREDITS ..................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ xiii I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................... 3 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA ..................................................................... 7 II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ..................................................... 11 EARLY RESIDENTS of BAKER ISLAND ................................................ 13 NEW LIGHT STATION, 1828 ................................................................. 13 EARLY LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS .......................................................... 15 OWNERSHIP DISPUTE ......................................................................... 15 KEEPER’S DUTIES ................................................................................. 16 LIGHT STATION RECONSTRUCTED, 1855 ......................................... 17 ANNUAL REPORTS, 1855-1905 ............................................................. 17 LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS, 1860-1953 ..................................................... 17 LIGHTHOUSE DESCRIPTIONS ............................................................ 20 EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS, CIRCA 1869 and 1897 ................................... 20 AUTOMATION and DEACCESSION, 1955-58 ....................................... 20 iii LAND ACQUISIONS by THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, 1967 AND 1983 ...................................................................... 21 HISTORICAL RECOGNITION AND DOCUMENTATION, 1976 AND 1987-88 ............................................... 21 MAINTENANCE UPKEEP BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.......................................................... 22 LIGHT TOWER DEACCESSIONED, 2011 ............................................. 22 HISTORIC LEASE ................................................................................... 23 III. ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY .............................................. 25 1828: FIRST LIGHT STATION .............................................................. 27 Introduction .................................................................................. 27 Specifications ................................................................................ 27 Construction ................................................................................. 29 Appearance ................................................................................... 30 1855: RECONSTRUCTED LIGHT STATION ...........................................32 Decrepit Structures ....................................................................... 32 Congressional Funding ................................................................. 32 Construction Documents .............................................................. 32 Laborers ........................................................................................ 33 Completion ................................................................................... 33 Location and Exterior Appearance ............................................... 33 Interior Layout and Finishes ......................................................... 34 Heating, Lighting and Plumbing .................................................... 34 CIRCA 1868: NEW KITHCEN WING ..................................................... 35 1874-97: EXTERIOR ALTERATIONS ..................................................... 40 1877-78: CELLAR FLOOR CEMENTED ................................................ 40 1895: NEW OIL HOUSE .......................................................................... 40 iv 1897: DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHS ............................................. 42 1898: TELEPHONE AND SIGNAL STATION ........................................ 42 1903: LIGHT TOWER AND HOUSE RENOVATIONS ........................... 47 1905: NEW FUEL HOUSE ....................................................................... 52 CIRCA 1920: HEATING SYSTEM and REMODELING ......................... 52 1942: U.S. COAST GUARD STRUCTURES ............................................ 55 1954: ELECTRIFICATION...................................................................... 55 1957: FRESNEL LENS REMOVED AND SURVEY ................................. 55 CIRCA 1965: WORK ROOM REMOVED ............................................... 56 1959-90: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MAINTENANCE, REPAIRS and DOCUMENTATION........................................................ 62 1959-96: LIGHT TOWER REPAIRS ........................................................ 62 1996-2011: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MAINTENANCE and REPAIRS ........................................................................................... 75 2007-08: LIGHT TOWER CONDITIONS ASSESSMENTS .................... 79 IV. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS .................................................... 81 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 83 1855 LIGHT TOWER .............................................................................. 83 Historical Summary....................................................................... 83 Exterior Descriptions .................................................................... 83 Interior Descriptions ..................................................................... 85 Photographs .................................................................................. 88 v 1855 KEEPER’S DWELLING .................................................................. 95 Historical Summary....................................................................... 95 Exterior Descriptions .................................................................... 95 Interior Descriptions ..................................................................... 103 Photographs ........................................................................ 100 & 109 1895 OIL HOUSE .................................................................................... 126 Historical Summary....................................................................... 126 Exterior Descriptions .................................................................... 126 Interior Descriptions ..................................................................... 127 Photographs .................................................................................. 129 CIRCA-1942 GARAGE ............................................................................ 131 Historical Summary....................................................................... 131 Exterior Descriptions .................................................................... 131 Interior Descriptions ..................................................................... 132 Photographs .................................................................................. 134 MISSING BUILDINGS and WALKWAYS ............................................... 137 V. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................. 141 EXISTING INTEGRITY FOR 1939 ......................................................... 143 CHARACTER-DEFINING FEATURES .................................................. 143 TREATMENT ........................................................................................ 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 149 vi LIST OF FIGURES AND CREDITS Cover: Light tower and keeper’s dwelling at Baker Island Light Station. Photograph by Eric Breitkreutz, 2012. 1. Map of Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine, 1995. www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks.html .......................................................... 10 2. “U.S. Coast Survey, Baker’s Island, Maine,” 29 Nov. 1854, by W.E. Greenwell, Assistant. Lighthouse Service, Lighthouse Site Files, 1790-1939, Box 63, Textual Records, Records of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Record Group (RG) 26; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, DC. .......................................................................................................... 31 3. “Plan Sections and Elevations of the Light House and Keepers Dwelling prepared for Erection at Baker’s Island, ME,” 1 Feb. 1855. Lighthouse Plans and Maps, Records of the USCG, RG 26; Cartographic and Architectural Records, NARA College Park, MD ............................................... 36 & 37 4. “Vertical Section of a Fourth Order Lantern,” similar to one installed at Baker Island Lighthouse in 1855. Francis Ross Holland, Jr., America’s Lighthouses: Their Illustrated History Since 1716 (Brattleboro: The Stephen Greene Press, 1972), 19; original image from RG 26, NARA. .............................................................. 38 5. Earliest known photograph of Baker Island Light Station, circa 1869. Prints/Photographs