West Quoddy Head Light still shines on America’s easternmost coast.
Just east of Lubec, Maine, make a trip to Quoddy Head State Park to reach the most easterly point of land in the United States. Here, you’ll find a striking red-and-white striped lighthouse known as the West Quoddy Head Light standing 83 feet above sea level near the southwest opening to the Bay of Fundy. Beyond the bay to its east, lies Nova Scotia; to the north New Brunswick, Canada. In nearby Perry, Maine, the tides will change 26 feet per day. Further north in the Bay of Fundy, tides will rise and fall 55 feet per day. In front of you, in just one 24-hour period, 115 billion metric tons of water will flow in and out of the bay.
Lighthouse Life Saver
In 1837, Captain Joseph Smith, an experienced mariner, wrote, “I am informed that sometimes for 20 days in succession the fog is experienced…often when it disperses, 50 to 100 vessels are seen in the immediate vicinity, all of them depending upon the fog signal to give them their position.” Thus, the lighthouse’s fog horn was considered to be of as much importance as its light! Amazingly, its light can bee seen twenty-one miles away in clear weather.
West Quoddy Facts
The original lighthouse was built in 1808 at a cost of $4,800. In 1958, it was replaced with the addition of a light keeper’s residence for $15,000. The park consists of 541 acres, with over five miles of hiking trails, including two bogs and an extensive forest carpeted with pine needles and moss.
Near Lubec, Maine, you will also encounter a bridge leading to Campobello Island, part of New Brunswick, Canada. Here President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a summer retreat. It is preserved today as the Roosevelt Campobello International Park.
Check out nearby Good RV Parks.
From along the road,
Chris
