Lubec Channel Lighthouse sits between South Lubec, Maine and Campobello Island in Canada. I had taken a trip Downeast in September of 2024 to get photos of the lighthouses in the area, but was dissapointed I couldn’t get closer for better reference shots. It was also a very gray and misty day. While the fog and rain did provide atmosphere, it didn’t make photographing this lighthouse any easier, especially since it was in the middle of the channel directly between the US and Canada.
Despite the weather, the area was beautiful, the lighthouses were dramatic, and definitely worth visiting again in clearer conditions. A month later I contacted Captain Kinny Corthell of Eastport Charter and we were on the water just after sunrise on a warm October morning cruising down Lubec Channel in his 28′ Parker charter boat.
I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much inspiration from this little lighthouse sitting just on the Maine side of the US – Canadian border. I was mainly there to get photos of the more famous West Quoddy Light further south and Mulholland Point Lighthouse across the channel from Lubec. This little lightouse was only on my list because we would be cruising right by it. My opinion changed as we grew closer. I could see the details of the railings, the weathered patina of it’s metal surface, and the red channel marker floating in front of it, reflecting in the water. The painting’s view captures this classic sparkplug lighthhouse with Maine’s shoreline in the background.
About Lubec Channel Lighthouse
Lubec Channel Lighthosue was commissioned in the 1880’s to aid navigation in the newly dredged waterway and was completed in 1890. It was originaly painted brown, but repainted white in 1903.
It is referred to as a “sparkplug” style lighthouse or “cassion” lighthouse. This style of lightouse sits on a caisson as its foundation instead of on pillars screwed into the land below the water. Cassions are hollow cylinders or boxes that can be lowered into the water then pumped dry making the lighthouse foundations easier to work on. Cassion lighthouses became popular in the 1800’s because they were more stable than the lighthouses that sat on pillars. According to the excellent website, lighthousefriends.com, Lubec Channel Lighthouse is one of only three sparkplug lighthouses that remain standing on Maine’s coast. The other two are Goose Rocks Light and Spring Point Light.
The lighthouse was maintained by two lightkeepers at a time who stayed in the roughly 625 square foot living space within the lighthouse. Lubec Channel Lighthosue was automated in 1939.
By 1992 the lighthouse started listing. It was straightened, reinforced and repaired. In 2006 the lighthouse was considered obsolete by the US Coast Guard and sold to a private owner from New York City. At this point there is no record online of any work being done on the lighthouse since 2011. It appears to sit abandoned and forgotten about by its out-of-state owner. It is also listing again.
I hope the current owner starts maintaining and using the lighthouse or sells it to someone who cares enough about it before it is lost forever and there are only two sparkplug lighthouses left in Maine.
About the Original Artwork
The original painting was done painted in 2025 from photos I took on the boat trip I mentioned above. It is gouache on 12 x 16 cradled panel.
The original painting is available for sale. For information about purchasing the original artwork, please email me at
Prints of Lubec Channel Lighthosue Painting
Prints are available for purchase on my print on demand site online at https://fineartnewengland.pixels.com