Whaleback Light

Whaleback Light is owned and operated by the town of Kittery, Maine. Sitting just offshore from Fort Foster, the light was positioned to protect the Portsmouth, New Hampshire harbor. The tower was constructed in 1872 of unpainted granite blocks topped with a fourth-order lens. Today the light shines a revolving DCB-224 airport-style beacon.

The keeper's quarters are integrated into the tower. The best vantage point for viewing Whaleback is from Fort Foster Park. Whaleback marks the approach to the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and has often been referred to as a New Hampshire lighthouse, but this rugged granite tower is clearly in Maine waters by about 1500 feet.

The jagged ledge known as Whaleback lurks menacingly on the northeast side of the entrance to the Piscataqua River, approximately a half-mile south of Gerrish Island, part of the town of Kittery. The ledge, which is completely underwater at high tide, is, in fact, a continuation of the southern point of Gerrish Island.

Portsmouth, on the Piscataqua River, was established as an important port for shipbuilding and trade before the American Revolution, and the first federal shipyard in the United States was established on the Kittery side of the Piscataqua River in 1800. Wrecks occurred around the mouth of the river with sickening regularity. The first Whaleback (called "Whales Back" in early records) Lighthouse was built by order of President Andrew Jackson in 1829-30. The combined cost of the stone pier and the lighthouse tower was a bit over $21,000, and the work was carried out by contractors Daniel Haselton and William Palmer. The lighthouse exhibited two fixed white lights, one 10 feet above the other. The lighthouse went into service on September 16, 1830.

Storms in 1869 caused cracks in the tower and foundation, and a report stated, "The station should be rebuilt as soon as possible."A new lighthouse tower was finally erected in 1872 for $75,000. The new 50-foot tower, 27 feet in diameter at its base, was constructed of granite blocks dovetailed together in similar fashion to Minot's Ledge Light in Massachusetts and England's Eddystone Light. General James Chatham Duane, engineer for the Lighthouse Board's first and second districts, was involved with the design. The granite came from the Goodwin Granite Quarry in Biddeford, Maine, and was supplied by the partnership of Gooch and Haines.