Manana Island Fog Signal Station

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Manana Island Fog Signal Station is a historic district near Monhegan Island in Knox County, Maine, listed in the National Register in 2002. It was established in 1855 as a fog signal station; the U.S. Lighthouse Board later designed and built its structures.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A and C, with local significance in maritime history, transportation and architecture. The nomination gives its period of significance as 1855 to 1952, reflecting its 1855 founding.

Physical character

A 24-foot wooden bell tower and a wooden trumpet tower atop a brick engine house stand near a 182-by-25-foot frame engine-house, with walls of vertical siding and wood shingle on stone and brick foundations. The bell tower was re-sheathed in 1868, the keeper's quarters were raised and reclapboarded in 1876 and given brick underpinnings in 1889, and the engine house was lathed and plastered in 1887. The fuel house was altered in 1906, and the station was automated in 1986, solarized in 1997, and lost its radio beacon tower in 1995.

Historical context

From 1855 to 1876 the fog signal station operated as part of Monhegan Light Station, becoming a separate station in 1876. A Daboll trumpet replaced the fog signal bell in 1870, and the bell was later moved to Monhegan Island in the 1990s. The original frame engine-house was demolished in 1889, and a boathouse damaged by storm in 1978 was demolished in 1991.