Wood Island Light

Wood Island Light is an active lighthouse on the eastern edge of Wood Island in Saco Bay, on the southern coast of Maine. The light is just outside the entrance to Biddeford Pool and the end of the Saco River. The lighthouse is a 47ft tall conical white tower constructed of granite rubble. The light itself sits above mean high water. It currently is automated and has an alternating green and white beacon every 10 seconds.Wood Island Light is Maine's second oldest lighthouse (after Portland Head Light) and the nation's eleventh oldest. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Wood Island Light Station on January 21, 1988, reference number 87002274.HistoryWood Island Light was established in 1808 under the orders of President Thomas Jefferson. The original tower was an octagonal wooden structure that had rotted out by the 1830s. In 1839 a granite tower was erected replacing the original wood structure. The current tower was constructed in 1858 as a renovation of the 1839 tower to allow for the installation of a 4th order Fresnel lens. Also built in 1858 were the current keepers dwellings which are still standing.In 1960s the original lantern room was removed and an aerobeacon was installed instead. This however was deemed unsightly by locals and when the lighthouse was automated in 1986 a new lantern room was fabricated and installed on the lighthouse along with what was then the latest technology, a VRB-25 beacon. The VRB-25 was replaced by a VLB-44, an LED beacon with a service life of ten years, in 2013. The United States Coast Guard maintains the active beacon of the lighthouse, while The Friends of Wood Island Light, a non-profit organization, has assisted the Coast Guard by maintaining and restoring parts of the lighthouse and keepers dwellings which they now own.