West Quoddy Head Light

At dusk on a cold winter day, West Quoddy Head Light, southeast of Lubec, Maine, stands as the sailor's beacon. It was built in 1808 by the order of President Thomas Jefferson. Lighthouses along this rugged coastline warn of thick fog, twenty-eight-foot tides, rocks, and shoals. But Quoddy Light's greatest distinction is geographical. It stands on the easternmost point in the United States. Across the Lubec Channel lies Campobello, the Canadian Island that was Franklin D. Roosevelt's summer home. On summer weekends, tourists flock to West Quoddy Heard but the light's biggest audience is composed of fishermen sailing home and the crews of coastal cargo ships, yachts, and passing deep-sea vessels. It is for them that this gaudy sentry flashes its friendly characteristic signal: two seconds on, two off, two on, and nine off. It is a reassuring signpost for anxious navigators on a tactless sea.