© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Maine Lighthouses Open to the Public

Ed Morin
/
MPBN
Portland Headlight is among the lighthouses open to the public Saturday.

PORTLAND, Maine - By the turn of the 20th century at least 70 lighthouses guarded Maine's seacoast, deep rivers and a lake.  Today 64 are still standing.  And tomorrow, on the 8th annual Maine Open Lighthouse Day, around two dozen, stretching from Kennebunkport to Lubec, will be open to the public, free of charge. 

Maine Office of Tourism spokesperson Jennifer Geiger says Maine's lighthouses are iconic symbols of the state.  She says the event is a way for people to enjoy being near the water along Maine's rocky coast, "and also getting kind of a connection to that past and that era when shipbuilding really was so important to Maine's lifeline, and just the whole mariner way of life which is still very prevalent today."

Most participating lighthouses will be open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  You can learn more about the event from the American Lighthouse Foundation.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.