It’s Thursday evening (August 9) during the gossamer interlude between sundown and darkness. We’re rounding Mark Island Light in East Penobscot Bay, weaving through small spirals of light rain while dazzling Venus arises over our shoulder.
Distracting details are being smoothed away; the island is transforming into an oil painting hung just for us between sky and sea. The lighthouse, built in 1857, also is known as the Deer Isle Thorofare Light because it marks the entrance to the hidden passage through many islands into Stonington Harbor.
The Island is now owned and preserved by the Island Heritage Trust. It’s no longer occupied, but the automated lamp and fog horn still provide familiar comfort. (Brooklin, Maine)