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Boon Island Light
6.5 miles south of Cape Neddick
on a small rocky barren island,
stands Boon Island Light,
clearly one of Maine's most isolated.
Many towers on this ledge have
been swept away from the severe storms
that rock the coast.
In 1800 the first 50 foot wooden
tower was placed but it was too
flimsy and was destroyed by a
winter storm in 1804.
The following summer it was
replaced with a stone tower.
In 1812,President James Madison
authorized a new lighthouse,
and again in 1831 the storms destroyed it.
It was decided that a better,sounder
building was needed so in 1852 the present
day tower was built.
133 feet tall,it is the tallest in New England.
The blizzard of 1978 destroyed the keeper's
house and the out buildings.
Granite boulders were tossed about
during the storm as if they were mere pebbles.
The two keepers were rescued the next day.
Boon Island was automated after this storm;
the second order Fresnel lens removed in 1993
and replaced by a modern solar powered optic.
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Legends
The most well known legend
involving the island is
about the British Ship
"Nottingham Galley".
In December of 1710,
the ship was wrecked,
and the survivors struggled
to stay alive for three weeks,
resorting to cannibalism.
Legend's say that after that disaster
local fishermen began leaving barrels of
provisions called "a boon"
in case of future wrecks.
Other legends tell of a keeper's wife
driven mad after his death on the island.
Of a keeper who left the island for food
who was found later wandering aimlessly
hundreds of miles from the island,
and of marooned keepers saved by
the crew of a passing schooner who
found their plea for help in a
bottle they had set adrift.
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