It’s snowing seriously here as I write, but yesterday was a fine day to see this Light that is no longer on. It’s the Pumpkin Island Lighthouse, which is a stone’s throw off the northern tip of Little Deer Isle. The station was created in 1854 and was decommissioned in 1933. The Island and lighthouse have been privately owned since then.
Captain John Chester of nearby Brooklin reportedly sold the Island to the federal Government and was appointed first lighthouse keeper there at an annual salary of $350. In 1870, Charles Leroy Babson, also of Brooklin, reportedly took over as a one-legged lightkeeper. (He lost his left leg fighting for the Union in the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg.)
When and why the less-than-two-acre Island was named Pumpkin seems to be a mystery; it’s not shaped like a pumpkin, nor can I find any history of pumpkin-raising there. (Images taken from Little Deer Isle, Maine, on February 8, 2025.)