Portland Bug Light

On November 11, 2011 I decided to hit up the Portland Head Light lighthouse. I was already in Portland so I thought I would get in a site visit. I had never been to this particular lighthouse but I’ve heard about it and seen pictures of it. Surprisingly for me, it was actually smaller than I imagined, even after seeing the pictures. I always pictured it being a little bigger. Either way, it was pretty cool. Not many people were there, as a matter of fact, no one was at the lighthouse but only a few people walking around in the park. This visit was fairly short, given that I could not go inside the lighthouse. I’m not sure if you can go in it, even during lighthouse week. It would be pretty neat to see the inside of it.

Historical Background:

Choragic Monument of Lysicrates

I had a brochure that I had picked up when I was at the Portland Head Light that gave some information about the Portland Breakwater Light, or Bug Light, but it wasn’t a lot. I did some research and what I found out about the lighthouse wasn’t too surprising. It served its purpose much like any other lighthouse, as a beacon but I managed to find some very interesting information, for me at least. On November 1831, Portland Harbor had been hit hard from a devastating storm destroying the wharves and buildings of the surrounding area. A plan to construct a breakwater ensued and with that came a lighthouse. The first one was built in 1855 but by the early 1870s the breakwater had been extended and the first lighthouse was obsolete and had been relocated. In June 1874, Bug Light was constructed for roughly $6,000. What I found interesting was that Bug Light was modeled after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates which was a structure built in ancient Greece (4^th century B.C.) near the Acropolis of Athens to commemorate the leader of a chorus in competitive choral dances. Bug Light stands at 24-feet tall, again, much smaller than I had anticipated and does in fact resemble the Choragic Monument very much. 

Much like the Portland Head Light, Bug Light served to illuminate the breakwater in Portland Harbor so ships could safely navigate. It was important given that Portland had highly active waters due to the shipping industries in the area. In 1985, Bug Light was donated to the Maine Historical Preservation Commission by Al Glickman when it had received $26,000 from the Lighthouse Bicentennial Fund and the South Portland and Cape Elizabeth rotary club.  Currently, it seems as though the city owns but, from what I’ve gathered, but a lot of the restoration money comes directly from this rotary along with Spring Point Ledge Light Trust as well as the U.S. Coast Guard who had installed a 250mm optic.  As South Portland Mayor William Dale had said, "This harbor is alive and well, and this lighthouse is representative of it." And this is very true. Maine has always had, and still has, a highly active shipping industry.

Sources: http://www.lighthouse.cc/portlandbreakwater