1852 Rockland Harbor Lighthouse and Coastal Living's Most Haunted
186 Lighthouse Road, Owls Head, ME 04854
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public access to the state park grounds. Tower interior open during select American Lighthouse Foundation hours.
Access
Limited Access
Steep stairs from the keeper's quarters to the tower; gravel and grass paths
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1852 · National Register of Historic Places · Authorized by President John Quincy Adams (1825) · Site of 1850 "Frozen Couple" Rescue · American Lighthouse Foundation Preservation Lease
The Owls Head Lighthouse was authorized by President John Quincy Adams in 1825 to serve the booming lime trade of Maine's midcoast. The first tower was completed that year; the present brick tower replaced it in 1852 and was fitted with a fourth-order Fresnel lens. The lighthouse sits on a rocky promontory roughly 100 feet above Rockland Harbor.
The immediate area's most-documented historical event is the December 22, 1850 ice storm during which five vessels went aground along the coast. The most-cited episode from that storm concerns the schooner whose surviving crew - including a first mate and his fiancée - were left huddled on deck and were found by rescuers frozen in a block of ice. The young couple, after being thawed and revived, ultimately survived and later married. The episode is preserved in nineteenth-century newspaper coverage and in the American Lighthouse Foundation's interpretive material.
The lighthouse was automated by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1989. The Coast Guard continues to use the attached keeper's dwelling as a residence. In 2007, the tower was leased to the American Lighthouse Foundation, which operates it for seasonal public access. The Foundation supports preservation and interpretation across multiple New England lighthouse stations.
The surrounding grounds are operated as Owls Head State Park by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, and are open to the public year-round. The lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources
Owls Head Lighthouse holds a long-standing place on regional and national haunted-lighthouse rankings, including the top position on Coastal Living magazine's most-haunted lighthouse list. The published lore describes two distinct figures.
The first is the "Little Lady," a presence most frequently associated with the kitchen of the keeper's dwelling and with the windows facing the harbor. The accounts describe doors slamming, silverware rattling, and the impression of a peaceful rather than hostile presence. The Coast Guard families who have lived in the keeper's dwelling during the post-automation period have contributed to the published account.
The second is the figure of a former keeper. Historian Bill O. Thomson is widely quoted on the account of large workman's boot prints appearing in fresh snow or rain on the ramp leading from the keeper's quarters up to the tower, with the prints leading only in one direction. The brass fittings in the lantern room are reportedly found polished and the lens cleaned after these episodes. Several occupants of the keeper's dwelling have also described being tucked into bed at night by an unseen presence.
Owls Head has been featured extensively in New England paranormal writing including Lighthousefriends, the Maine Haunted Lighthouses guide, and the American Ghost Walks reference. The American Lighthouse Foundation acknowledges the lore as cultural artifact and integrates it modestly into its interpretive program.
Notable Entities
Walk the grounds of Owls Head State Park to the 1852 brick lighthouse standing 100 feet above Rockland Harbor. The American Lighthouse Foundation operates the tower under a 2007 Coast Guard lease and opens the keeper's quarters and tower interior on selected days during the season.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Dillon, MT
Bannack State Park preserves Montana's first territorial capital and one of the West's most intact ghost towns. Founded after the July 28, 1862 gold strike at Grasshopper Creek, Bannack grew to a peak population of approximately 10,000 before declining through the late 19th and 20th centuries. More than 50 historic structures survive along the original main street.
Georgetown, ME
First lit in 1797, Seguin Island Lighthouse stands 180 feet above sea level off the mouth of the Kennebec River. The current 1857 granite tower is Maine's second-oldest light station and houses the state's only first-order Fresnel lens still in active service.
New London, CT
Race Rock Lighthouse stands on a hazardous reef in Long Island Sound, southwest of Fishers Island, off New London. Designed by engineer Francis Hopkinson Smith and built between 1871 and 1878 on a granite foundation that took seven years to complete, it remains one of the most demanding offshore lighthouse projects of its era. The light was automated in 1978 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.