Dusk at Nubble Point
Copyright, All Rights
Reserved,
Barry W. Hollritt, 2003
There is a tiny
island off the eastern point of Cape Neddick in Maine named the "Nubble".
Since 1807, many seaman had recommended building a lighthouse on the nubble.
In 1602 explorer Bartholomew Gosnold met with local Indians on the island
and dubbed it "Savage Rock." An 1837 proposal to build a light on the rock
was rejected on the grounds that there were already three lights in the
vicinity: Boon Island, Whaleback, and Portsmouth Harbor Light. Even after
the wreck of the bark Isidore in 1842 near Bald Head Cliff, north of the
Nubble, it still took close to four more decades before the lighthouse was
established. The Isidore, according to legend, still reappears as a ghost
ship with a phantom crew. In 1874 Congress appropriated $15,000 for the
building of a lighthouse on the Nubble. On July 1, 1879 the lighthouse was
first illuminated. Though the "Nubble Light", as it is affectionately
known, is not an old lighthouse in comparison to many other U.S.
Lighthouses, it still is considered one of the most picturesque lights in
the country. In 1977, when NASA sent Voyager II into space with artifacts
designed to teach extraterrestrial civilizations about our planet, one of
the images it carried was a picture of the Nubble Light. The light was
automated in 1987 but the distinctive red beacon continues to shine along
the coastline of York, Maine.
When I arrived in
York to photograph the light, I came with the intention of spending the
night and viewing the lighthouse and the island in their changing lights.
Overcast conditions met me as I arrived on a late Tuesday afternoon in
September. My first images were acceptable, but the light seemed dull due to
the overcast. I returned to my hotel thinking I would be back at dawn, but
as I was turning the key of the door to enter my room (which was facing
west), the door suddenly became illuminated with a warm, orange sunset
glow!
As I turned around, I
realized the sun had appeared at the base of the clouds just before it was
going to set. I raced back to the lighthouse. I had about eight minutes to
try and preserve this wonderful scene and preserve the warm glow of the
day-ending light upon the Nubble lighthouse. Within a few minutes, the
fading light completely fell away and the silent Nubble beacon began to
dominate the sea once again.
