One of the most instantly recognizable United States lighthouses, Portland Head, has long protected Portland, Maine and the surrounding area.

It sits on a rocky point at the entrance to Portland Harbor. Standing watch over the surrounding areas of Cape Elizabeth and Casco Bay.

The original tower measured 72 feet from base to lantern deck and was lit with 16 whale oil lamps. It was first lit on January 10, 1791, and is the oldest lighthouse in Maine. Oil lamps were later replaced with a Fresnel Lens.

It was the first lighthouse completed by the United States government in 1790, with Congress appropriating $1500 for its completion. A fiscally minded President George Washington asked that the tower be built from local rubblestone, which could be "handled nicely when hauled by oxen on a drag."

Harsh weather and fog abound at Portland Head in winter. There are tales of an evening when the lighthouse keeper's wife knitted in a chair beside the window. Their dog was growling so fiercely that she left to knit elsewhere. No sooner had she moved than a giant wave crashed into the house, breaking the window and spraying glass all over her chair.

Following a wreck on Alden's Rock near the lighthouse in 1864 that claimed the lives of forty people, the lighthouse's height was raised by twenty feet. A second Fresnel lens was added to provide additional light and a fog light.

A frequent visitor to the lighthouse was the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote "The Lighthouse," doubtlessly inspired by Portland Head. One of the poem's stanzas seems a fitting honor to this historic light.

Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same,
Year after year, through all the silent night
Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame,
Shines on that inextinguishable light!

The perfect gift for wooden jigsaw puzzlers and lighthouse fans, this traditional adult wooden jigsaw puzzle can be done time and again. Our wooden jigsaw puzzle artists have included many ship and lighthouse shaped whimsy wooden jigsaw puzzle pieces that match the subject of the painting, and we have integrated them in ways that will delight and surprise you as you put the wooden jigsaw puzzle together.