William and Hannah Gilley took possession of Baker Island in the early 1800s. They had three children and would eventually have nine more during their years on the island. Their son, John Gilley, was immortalized as the subject of an 1899 book by Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot, called John Gilley, One of the Forgotten Millions. When the lighthouse was built, William Gilley was appointed keeper at a salary of $350 per year.

Some years after William Gilley became keeper, he received a letter from the government accusing him of using too much whale oil and asking him to economize. Because the whale oil used in the lamps could easily congeal, a stove was kept below the lantern to heat the oil when necessary.

A rocky beach on the island

Gilley remained keeper until 1848 when he was dismissed for not being a member of the party that had come into power, the Whigs. At 63, Gilley left Baker Island and moved to Great Duck Island, which he also owned.

Two of Gilley's sons harassed the succeeding keepers of the light, John Rich and Joseph Bunker, until the federal government tried to evict the Gilley family from the island. The Gilleys countered by claiming that they legally owned the island, and the legal battles went on for years. Finally the government won the right to 19 acres for the light station and the necessary right-of-way, while the Gilley heirs retained the rest of the island.

The 1853 annual report of the new U.S. Lighthouse Board called the lighthouse tower "entirely worthless," and the dwelling so decrepit and leaky that it was unhealthy. The present 43-foot brick tower was built in 1855. A fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed, with a lamp fueled by lard oil. In 1903, a new layer of brick was added to the tower. There was, for some time, a short covered passageway between the dwelling and the lighthouse, but it has been removed.

U.S. Coast Guard photo

An 1886 book, All Among the Lighthouses by Mary Bradford Crowninshield, described Baker Island:

The lighthouse . . . stands up high and bold on a sudden rise of land, and is some distance from the boat landing; and it was a pleasure... to walk through the meadows thickly grown with buttercups and daisies...

In November 1932, the pregnant wife of Keeper Joseph Muise went into labor during a strong gale. The assistant keeper was on shore leave, so Keeper Muise could not leave his post. He phoned the Coast Guard station on a neighboring island, and a crew of five launched a lifeboat, picked up Mrs. Muise and headed for Northeast Harbor, 10 miles away. They were still two miles from the town when Mrs. Muise, wrapped in the Coast Guardsmen's jackets, gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

In 1953, the wife of Keeper Clement wrote in a newspaper column:

Haven't had too many summer people on here so far. I don't blame them for not coming in, all the fog we've had. Hope the fog goes away pretty soon so we'll know there are other people on this good earth besides ourselves.

The light was deactivated in October 1955, but it was re-established in early 1957 as an automatic unattended light for the benefit of local fishermen and yachtsmen. A Fresnel lens removed from Baker Island is now on display at the Fisherman's Museum at Pemaquid Point Light. The flashing white light in the lighthouse is now solar powered.

In 1989, the Maine Historic Preservation Commission refurbished the light station at a cost of $3,600. In 1991, the Coast Guard proposed to discontinue the light; tall surrounding trees made it difficult or impossible to see from the water. More than 150 complaints convinced the Coast Guard to keep the light active. In 1997, the Coast Guard again proposed discontinuing the light. A letter writing campaign convinced them that the light was still needed by local mariners. Acadia National Park personnel have stabilized the keeper's house, but there are no plans for future use of the building.

The oil house

Under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, the lighthouse was offered for transfer to a suitable new steward in 2008. At this writing in the fall of 2009, it appears that ownership will go the National Park Service. According to John Kelly of Acadia National Park, the tower is in need of at least $800,000 in repairs.

 

Keepers: William Gilley (1828-1848); John Rich (1849-1853); Joseph Bunker (1853-1860); John Bunker (1860-1861); Freeman G. Young (1861-1867); Alden H. Jordan (1867-1883); Roscoe G. Lopaus (1883-1888); Howard P. Robbins (1888-1902); George Connors (c. 1902-1912); Vurney L. King (c. 1912 - ?); Joseph Muise (?-c.1936); F. Faulkingham (c. 1935); Wayne Edson Holcomb (U.S. Coast Guard, 1944-1945); Ernest Mathie (c. 1950); (Eugene?) Coleman (c. 1950); ? Clements (c. 1953)