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Lighthouses of Casco Bay
Peter Dow Bachelder
Peter Dow Bachelder's *Lighthouses of Casco Bay* is exactly the kind of book its title promises, and better than it needs to be. Bachelder, a Maine lighthouse historian, gathers the lights that guard the island-strewn bay off Portland — Portland Head, Ram Island Ledge, Halfway Rock, Spring Point Ledge and their neighbors — and tells the story of each: when it was built, why, who kept it, and what it weathered. First published by The Breakwater Press in the 1970s, it belongs to the small, sturdy tradition of regional maritime history written by people who clearly love their subject. It is compact and unpretentious, heavy on fact and human detail rather than romance. For anyone sailing, kayaking, or simply looking out over Casco Bay, it turns a scattering of towers into a set of stories.
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The author
Peter Dow Bachelder was a Maine historian who specialized in the state's lighthouses and maritime disasters, writing a series of carefully researched local histories over several decades. His work is cited in National Register of Historic Places documentation for Maine light stations, a sign of how seriously his research is taken.
The book
Lighthouses of Casco Bay surveys the navigational lights of the bay that opens off Portland, Maine — among them Portland Head Light, Halfway Rock, Ram Island Ledge, and Spring Point Ledge. For each, Bachelder sets down the essentials: the reason it was built, its construction and keepers, and the wrecks and storms that shaped its history. First issued by The Breakwater Press, it was later revised and expanded as The Lighthouses and Lightships of Casco Bay.
How it has aged
As local maritime history, it has aged gracefully; the facts are the facts, and Bachelder assembled them with care. Lighthouse automation has changed the human story since, but the towers and their pasts are unchanged, and this remains a dependable guide.
For more context
Casco Bay's lights sit within the larger story of Maine's coast; readers can go on to U.S. Coast Guard light-station histories or visit the Portland Head Light museum at Fort Williams.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Peter Dow Bachelder
- Publisher
- The Breakwater Press
- ISBN
- None
- Format
- Paperback
- Shelf
- Maritime
- Location
- Maine
Places