Portland Head Light & Fort Williams Park – Cape Elizabeth, Maine – Part 92 min read time

The last stop on our marathon Maine photography journey was Portland Head Light & Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.   We stopped by, mid-afternoon, to scope out the area with the intent to come back just before sunset & get a primo spot to shoot the lighthouse as the sun went down!

We spent an hour or so checking out the ruins of Fort Williams that is adjacent to the lighthouse.

From Wikipedia:

Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a head of land at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor, which is within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. Completed in 1791, it is the oldest lighthouse in the state of Maine. The light station is automated, and the tower, beacon, and foghorn are maintained by the United States Coast Guard, while the former lighthouse keepers’ house is a maritime museum within Fort Williams Park.

There were many boats that went by in the channel.  They passed by the old lighthouse that is out in the water.

After scouting the area and climbing the hills up to another view of the Portland Head Light, we drove to a really cool BBQ restaurant in town that was created in what had been a car repair shop.   Elesmere BBQ & Wood Grill serves some amazing BBQ!

After filling up on BBQ we headed back to the park to grab our spot to shoot the lighthouse.

As the sun started to go down I realized that the light might be better on the other side so I trekked over there to find my spot.

After the sun went down the colors in the sky came up:

We stayed until it started to get dark so we could get the light beam shining from the lighthouse!

The lesson here…stick around and get the view with different lighting.  I just wish there had been a few clouds in the sky!  Oh well… can’t have everything.

Be sure to visit the Portland Head Light if you are in the Portland, Maine area.   See their website for details.

This was the end of a long, wild drive down & back up the coast of Maine!  We spent 25 hours up and moving from the time we left until we arrived back at the house we rented in Mount Desert.

After sleeping in a bit the next day we went on to our next stop, on our last day in Maine: Wonderland in Acadia National Park for Part 10!

Please visit my gallery to see these and other images.

That is all for now!

Lynn