Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park

Construction of Portland Head Light began in the 1780s, when Maine was still part of Massachusetts, and it was completed and first lit in 1791 under the authority of the new federal government. The commission was signed by President George Washington, and the tower is often cited as one of the earliest lighthouses established by the United States.

Over more than two centuries the light has been raised, rebuilt, and re-fitted as technology changed, from whale-oil lamps to modern optics, and generations of keepers lived on the point tending the flame. The tower remains an active aid to navigation today, while the attached keeper's house holds a museum that tells its long story.

The lighthouse shares its headland with Fort Williams, a coastal-defense installation that guarded the approaches to Portland Harbor from the late 1800s through the Second World War. The Army decommissioned it in the mid twentieth century, and the town of Cape Elizabeth turned the grounds into a public park.

Today the park's wide lawns roll down to the cliffs, laced with walking paths and dotted with the concrete ruins of gun batteries and observation posts. Families picnic, kites fly, and visitors wander among the remnants of the fort, all with the lighthouse and the open ocean as a backdrop. It is free to enter and open daily, a rare combination of history, landscape, and sea.

The setting is what makes the light unforgettable. The tower stands on dark, wave-battered ledges where the Atlantic meets the mouth of the harbor, and on a windy day the surf explodes against the rocks below in sheets of white. Just offshore, the sea has claimed ships over the centuries, and a nearby ledge still bears witness to a famous wreck of the late 1800s.

The shoreline is beautiful and dangerous in equal measure. The rocks are slick, the surf can surge without warning, and every year visitors underestimate the sea. The safe and stunning way to enjoy it is from the grass and the marked paths above, especially at sunrise or during a storm swell.

Summer brings the biggest crowds and the easiest weather, with warm lawns, food trucks in the park, and long daylight. Early mornings are the reward for photographers, when the light catches the tower and the crowds have not yet arrived.

Fall adds color to the park and thinner crowds, while winter strips the scene to its essentials: bare cliffs, cold surf, and sometimes snow against the white tower. The park stays open year-round, and a raw, blustery day can be the most dramatic time of all to watch the sea break against Maine's oldest light.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.