WayfarrowBass Harbor Head Light
Lighthouse · Hancock County, Maine
Bass Harbor Head Light is a lighthouse in Hancock County, Maine. Maine has 70 lighthouses on record at Wayfarrow, 14 of them in Hancock County.
It was built in 1858, in the Civil War era, making it the 26th oldest of the 61 in Maine with a recorded construction date; the tower stands about 32 feet tall (32nd tallest of 53 measured in Maine); its light sits 56 feet above the water; the light characteristic is recorded as Oc R 4s (a red light that briefly goes dark every 4 seconds), with a range of about 13 nautical miles.
Status check, 2026-11: Original 1858 brick tower in Acadia National Park, now owned by the NPS and still working; most lighthouse sources say it is 32 ft tall, but Wikipedia says 33 ft, NPS says 37 ft counting the lightning rod, and some sites wrongly give the 56-ft focal plane as the height. Bass Harbor Head Light is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It stands at 44.2218° N, 68.3373° W.
Key facts
| Current structure built | 1858 |
|---|---|
| Tower height | 32 ft |
| Focal height | 56 ft |
| Light characteristic | Oc R 4s |
| Range | 13 nautical miles |
| Heritage designation | National Register of Historic Places listed place |
| National Register | Listed |
| Coordinates | 44.22181, -68.33728 |
Nearby places
- Bear Island Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 5.4 mi
- Baker Island Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 7 mi
- Great Duck Island Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 7.1 mi
- Burnt Coat Harbor Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 8.2 mi
- Blue Hill Bay Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 8.2 mi
- Egg Rock Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 13.4 mi
- Crabtree Ledge Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 18.2 mi
- Isle Au Haut Lightlighthouse · Knox County · 19 mi
- Deer Island Thorofare Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 19.1 mi
- Mount Desert Lightlighthouse · Maine · 20.4 mi
- Prospect Harbor Point Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 20.4 mi
- Pumpkin Island Lightlighthouse · Hancock County · 21 mi
Questions
Where is Bass Harbor Head Light?
Bass Harbor Head Light is in Hancock County, Maine, at 44.2218, -68.3373.
How many lighthouses are in Hancock County?
Hancock County, Maine has 14 lighthouses on record at Wayfarrow.
- Wayfarrow status check (web sources) — Checked for current status (facts)
- Wayfarrow status check (web sources) — Checked for current status (facts)
- Wayfarrow status check (web sources) — Checked for current status (facts)
- Wayfarrow status check (web sources) — Checked for current status (facts)
- Wikidata — Wikidata item (CC0)
- National Register of Historic Places — National Register of Historic Places record (public-domain)
- Wikidata — Wikipedia article (linked as a source; text not used) (CC0)
Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.