ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland Breakwater, a line of granite blocks stretching eight-tenths of a mile leading to a historic lighthouse, is the No. 1 tourist attraction in the city.
That was no more evident than on Friday, when cars lined not only the parking area for the breakwater but the entire length of the Samoset Road as hundreds of people trekked out on the breakwater to tour the lighthouse.
“This is awesome. The view is fantastic, even without the boats to watch,” Kathy Heskett of Dade City, Florida, said. Friday was the first time Heskett and her husband, Chris Heskett, toured the inside of the lighthouse.
Tricia Dixon of Rockport was behind the gift counter at the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse on Friday and could not agree more with the visitors. Dixon has volunteered at the lighthouse for the past 14 years, since she moved to the area from Bangor.
She said last year, 14,000 people toured the lighthouse, and that was only counting people on the days when the building was open: weekends between Memorial Day and Columbus Day and special days, such as Friday’s parade of windjammers. Even on days when the lighthouse is not open for tours, the breakwater is heavily traveled from spring through fall.
TripAdvisor lists the Rockland Breakwater Light as the No. 1 thing to do in Rockland, ahead of the Farnsworth Art Museum and boat tours. The website VirtualTourist also lists the breakwater light as the No. 1 place to visit in Rockland.
Ryan Johnson of Waterbury, Vermont, said he searched for a vacation online and was attracted to Rockland and the breakwater.
“I get to enjoy a lovely summer day on the water,” Johnson said, adding that the walk out to the lighthouse was awesome.
Joe Gianni of Wrentham, Massachusetts, said this was his first trip to the breakwater. Gianni said he visited the website for the breakwater lighthouse and knew it was the trip he wanted to make.
“The breakwater gives you access to the water, and being able to take pictures of the windjammers just makes it that much better,” he said.
In addition to people walking the breakwater to visit the lighthouse or to view the harbor and Penobscot Bay, people almost always are fishing for mackerel. Friday was no exception, as a dozen people were casting their lines from the sides of the breakwater.
The Rockland Breakwater took 18 years to build and was completed in 1899. Rockland residents had been seeking a breakwater since 1850, after a series of storms caused considerable damage to buildings and vessels along the shore. An 1852 storm “swept disastrously” over the shore and destroyed $20,000 in properties including wharves, limekilns and railways.
The 1976 “Shore Village Story” states the breakwater was an “engineering feat of no small importance or expense” and a tourist attraction since its construction.
The federal government used 769,000 tons of granite, much of it quarried from the nearby Penobscot Bay island of Vinalhaven. The cost of the project was $750,000. Today, the breakwater would cost $126 million to construct, according to the Friends of Rockland Harbor Lights.
The lighthouse was built in 1902.
The city of Rockland owns the lighthouse, acquiring it from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1998. In turn, the city leases it to the nonprofit volunteer Friends of Rockland Harbor Lights for $1 per year.
The mission of the nonprofit is to restore and maintain the lighthouse.
Dixon said when the city acquired the lighthouse, it was in a state of disrepair. The last occupant of the building was in the home in 1964, when the Coast Guard automated the light. Through fundraising and volunteer efforts by the Friends, there has been a great improvement.
But the need continues, and more volunteers are needed, Dixon said.
For more information or to contact the Friends, call 542-7574 or email info@rocklandharborlights.org.