The Hendricks Head Lighthouse Station had been commissioned in 1829 on Southport Island near Boothbay Harbor in Maine. The area overlooks the mouth of the Sheepscot River and the Atlantic Ocean near the Cuckolds Light, and views the Sequin Island Lighthouse. This location helped bring about a safe course for mariners. as they attempted to enter the broad mouth of Sheepscot River from the Atlantic.
In 1875, the 40-foot-high brick tower and a keeper’s house had been built to replace the original structure. In 1890, a fog bell tower was built and the station at the time had a keeper’s quarters, a bell tower, a boathouse, a whale oil storage house, and a barn. From 1829 to 1933 there were twelve different keepers along with their families at the station. Each had stories to tell.
After the Civil War, there was a bad snow squall in March, and a schooner had been “fetched up all standing “on a rock ledge a distance away from the Hendricks’ station.
The keeper and his family had to watch as the doomed sailors climbed the rigging of the sinking ship. The sub-zero winds showered sprays causing the sailors to freeze hard to the ratlines (lengths of thin lines tied between the shrouds of a sailing ship to form a ladder) In darkness, the keeper attempted to save something and found a bundle in the sea. A feather mattress. Muffled cries were heard of an infant inside. In the mattress was a wrapped baby with a note that the husband and wife had left the child in God’s hands. The keeper and his wife brought the baby to the house, nursed her back to health, and adopted her.
The Coast Guard was forced to decommission the lighthouse due to the Great Depression in 1933. The entire land was sold off the Dr. William P Brown in Connecticut. When commerce covered, the light started up again. The Coast Guard automated the light. The electric light did not need supervision. The summer cottage, the keeper’s house, was back in use.
The Hendrick’s Head light is the only Coast Guard-operated light in Maine that is privately owned.
In 1976, Dr. Brown’s daughter Mary Charbonneau and husband Gill had the house winterized so it could be occupied all year. They sold it in February 1991 to Ben and Luanne Russell from Alabama. They renovated the structures and by 2000 all were in perfect shape. The fog bell tower has been restored to its original condition, but is not active. All the buildings have bright red roofs.