Post cards, which enjoyed great popularity before World War I, often give us a good idea of how the lighthouse looked during its first twenty years. However, almost all post cards of that era were printed in Germany and the artists creating them from glass plate black and white negatives often took great liberty with colors.
Most of the cards offer a fairly accurate view of things, but the bottom left card shows a paint scheme that the lighthouse never had. Interestingly, if you look closely at the two bottom cards, you’ll see that both of these, though printed a number of years apart, were derived from the same photograph.
BREAKWATER FACTS
- Construction began in 1950; completed in 1951
- Cost of construction: $215,000
- Stone was quarried in Biddeford and Wells
- Total length: 875 feet
- Height: 15 feet at low water, 6 feet at high water
- Side slope: harborside ~1:1; seaside 2:1
- Stone: granite, 75% in 5-ton blocks, 25% in 3-ton
- Built by US. Army Corps of Engineers