In 1884, a beacon light was established on Palmer’s Landing on the St. John River, just north of the entrance to Belleisle Bay, in the form of a tubular lantern hoisted on a mast. The mast was twenty-five feet tall and was situated thirty-five feet from the front of the pier and had a white shed at its base. Beverley Emerson Palmer was appointed the first keeper at an annual salary of $80, and he was still responsible for the light in 1895, when a spark from the steamer Hampstead set fire to the wharf and destroyed the light. It was blowing a gale at the time, and Keeper Palmer was only able to save the lantern, oil, and oil tanks.

A tubular lantern was exhibited from a pole until a square, wooden lighthouse, built on the new government high-water wharf at Palmer’s Landing, was placed in operation on August 6, 1896. The new pyramidal stood twenty-eight feet tall from its base to the vane atop its lantern room, and used a lens to show a fixed white light at a height of thirty-four feet above high water. The new lighthouse was located 1,200 feet north from the temporary light on the old pier.

By 1961 the wharf had settled, causing the lighthouse to lean. Repairing the old lighthouse was deemed too expensive, so a pole light was erected on the adjacent low water wharf, and in December 1961 the old lighthouse was burned. In 1965, the light was returned to the high-water wharf. Today only crumbling remains of these wharves mark the location.

Keepers: Beverley Emerson Palmer (1884 – 1897), Robert E. Pickett (1897 – 1911), Alfred Le Buhler (1911), B.R. Palmer (1911 – at least 1923).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine, various years.

No light exists at this location today.

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