Bass Harbor Head Light Trail, Acadia National Park, Hancock County, ME

In 1858, the U.S. federal government constructed the Bass Harbor Head light station on a two-acre plot of rocky shorefront purchased from James S. Gott and located at the southeastern tip of Mount Desert Island. The light station included a keeper’s dwelling and was manned until 1974 when the light was automated.

The lighthouse became a popular destination for early summer visitors to Mount Desert Island in the late 1800s and was mentioned in guidebooks such as “Mount Desert On the Coast of Maine” by Clara Barnes Martin, 1877.

In 1937 a 52-acre parcel of land was purchased by the National Park Service from the Worcester family. The land bordered and surrounded the light station on the north and east. Today this parcel includes the present day southern half of Lighthouse Road, the parking lot, and the land for the Bass Harbor Head Light Trail (ANP #129). In 1939, the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) rebuilt the entire Lighthouse Road leading to the light station.

In 1949, the U.S. Navy used the northeast section of the light station for the installation of a transmission building and two large antennas, and enclosed the area with a fence which limited where visitors could walk. The parking lot just north of the reserved area was developed by the NPS in 1956.

Around this same time in the 1950s, recreational uses expanded as the public was allowed to access portions of the reservation. The public could access the lighthouse exterior with ocean views from an adjacent gravel walkway to the west of the keeper’s house, located below the concrete retaining wall. To the east of the light station, visitors in the late 1950s and 1960s recall a short path near the lighthouse, and a scramble down along the shore, (personal communication, D. Goodrich and H. Tuchmann, 2025). There was not a path through the woods nor a staircase as there is today.

In 1974 ownership of the two-acre light station was transferred to the NPS but the Coast Guard retained use of the buildings as a residence for Coast Guard personnel until 2012. Also in 1974, the Acadia National Park’s trail crew, with help from the Youth Conservation Corp, built the Bass Harbor Head Light Trail through the woods to the east of the station and constructed a simple, narrow wooden staircase down the steep cliff to access the rocky shoreline below. In 1991, the staircase was repaired using pressure-treated lumber. In 1998, a major renovation was completed on the Bass Harbor Head Light Trail, including a new wooden deck and staircase at the cliff edge and stone work. At this time part of the upper portion of trail was rerouted eastward to align with the staircase. (CLR 2006: 246).

In 2019 the staircase was replaced again to make the steps wider and included an additional observation deck midway. More stone steps and stone patios were installed on the ledges below to improve access to viewpoints. The Bass Harbor Head Light Trail has become one of the most visited sites in Acadia National Park.

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