Here, we see ice-ringed Pumpkin Island and its Light on Saturday, March 13. I’m at the tip of Little Deer Isle admiring the scene and wondering why this three-acre Maine Island is called Pumpkin.
It’s not shaped like a pumpkin; pumpkins weren’t grown there, as far as I can tell, and a review of six histories of the area was not illuminating on this subject. Perhaps one of you can help.
The Island and its Light are located at the northwest entrance to Eggemoggin Reach, a granite ledge- and island-clogged channel between the Penobscot Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The Reach is some of the best sailing water in the world during a clear day, but can be perilous during a foul day or dark night, even to boats with radar.
The Pumpkin Island Light entered service in 1855, when there was no radar, but plenty of traffic there in the form of coastal cruisers carrying timber, granite, and other commercial cargo. (These vessels are now called schooners and their cargo is tourists.) It was said that the Light could be seen with the naked eye 20 nautical miles away.
The Light was operated until 1933. The Island and its buildings were then sold and have remained in considerate private hands since. (Little Deer Island, Maine)