since watching the movie forrest gump, i have always wanted to visit and photograph this cool little light house, mainly because it is unique and looks unlike any other in the united states, and has so many metaphors of life in its aura...i stopped here in the summer of 2019, this was the turn-around point on the trip to start heading back west (a funny coincidence, much like forrest gump did as well)... my pup and i were taking a cross united states road trip, from corner to corner, to corner, encompassing over 11,000 miles in total...kinda similar to what forrest gump did in his jogging scenes the movie in a way (it is estimated that he ran around 19,000 miles in the movie)...
this is the marshall point lighthouse close to st. george, maine...it is a lighthouse at the entrance of port clyde harbor at the mouth of the st. george river on a rocky point at the end of the st. george peninsula. the light station was established in 1832 to assist boats entering and leaving the harbor. the original lighthouse was a 20-foot (6.1 m) tower lit by seven lard oil lamps with 14-inch reflectors, but it was replaced with the present lighthouse in 1857. the lighthouse now is a 31-foot (9.4 m) tall white brick tower on a granite foundation. the tower was originally lit with a 5th order fresnel lens. a raised wooden walkway with white wooden handrails about 100 feet (33 m) long connects the tower to land.
in 1895, the original keeper's house was destroyed by lightning, so a colonial revival style house was built to replace it. an oil house and a bell tower with a 1,000-pound (450 kg) bell were added in 1898. the bell was replaced with a fog horn in 1969...like so many light houses, the marshall point lighthouse was automated in 1980 and continues to serve to this day as an active u.s. coast guard aid to navigation on the coast of maine. the original fresnel lens was replaced with a modern 12 inch (300 mm) optic. in 2017, the coast guard replaced the beacon that had been inside the lantern room since 1971 with a modern LED light. the beacon removed from the tower is now on display along with the original fresnel lens at the maine lighthouse museum in rockland.
in 1986, the st. george historical society restored the keeper's house and established the marshall point lighthouse museum there, presenting the histories of light and other nearby lighthouses, as well ashistoric photos of the area and documentation of the filming of the movie, forrest gump...and because of the movie, millions of people have seen marshall point lighthouse, even though they might not know it. the lighthouse’s wooden walkway served as the terminating point in forrest gump’s cross-country run…the walkway linking the tower to shore and the exterior of the tower were restored in the fall of 2017. the marshall point light station was added to the national register of historic places in 1988
“mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get”
"i don't know if we have a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidental-like on a breeze...but i...i think maybe it's both...maybe both is happenin' at the same time" ― winston groom, forrest gump
“i was born to dream amidst her stars, to awaken and drink the dew from her flowers, then walk barefoot in the sands of her sunshine days” ― bodhinku