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Browns Head Light
Location	Browns Head, Vinalhaven, Maine
Coordinates	44°6′42.352″N 68°54′34.186″W / 44.11176444°N 68.90949611°W
Tower
Constructed	1832
Automated	1987
Height	6 m (20 ft)
Shape	Cylindrical
Markings	White
Heritage	National Register of Historic Places listed place
Fog signal	HORN: 1 every 10s
Light
First lit	1857 (current structure)
Focal height	39 feet (12 m)
Range	14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi) & 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi)
Characteristic	F W with 2 R sectors
	Browns Head Light Station
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Built	1857
NRHP reference No.	83000460
Added to NRHP	January 27, 1983

Browns Head Light is a lighthouse in Vinalhaven, Maine.^[2]^[3] Established in 1832, it is an active aid to navigation, marking the southern side of the western entrance to the Fox Island Thoroughfare, a busy strait separating Vinalhaven Island from North Haven. The present lighthouse was built in 1857; and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Browns Head Light Station" on January 27, 1983.^[1]

Description and history

The Maine town of Vinalhaven occupies a large eponymous island in the south center of Penobscot Bay. The island is studded with inlets and peninsulas, and is just south of North Haven, the other major island of the Fox Islands group, from which it is separated by the Fox Island Thoroughfare. Browns Head is a promontory near the western entrance to the Thoroughfare, and the lighthouse is located on its western shore. The lighthouse is a cylindrical granite structure with a six-sided lantern house, 18 feet (5.5 m) in height, standing with its light about 37 feet (11 m) above sea level. The light has a range of 15 miles (24 km). It is connected by a short covered passageway to the keeper's house, a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure.^[4]

A light station first went into operation at this location in 1832. The present tower dates to 1857, and was originally equipped with a fifth-order Fresnel lens. The light was automated in 1987, and remains an active aid to navigation.^[5] The light is a well-preserved example of a pre-Civil War lighthouse complex.^[4]

In popular culture

Folk singer John McCutcheon has a song entitled Old Brown's Head Light.
The lighthouse features prominently in the 1988 Italian thriller Qualcuno in ascolto starring Vincent Spano.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Maine". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. 2009-08-05. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
^ Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey. United States Coast Guard. 2009. p. 36.
^ ^a ^b "NRHP nomination for Browns Head Light Station". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
^ "Maine Lighthouses". US Coast Guard. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
^ Rosati, Faliero, Qualcuno in ascolto (Mystery, Thriller), Vincent Spano, Umberto Caglini, Anne Canovas, Cinecittà, Reteitalia, Union P.N., retrieved 2023-09-09