Maine Lighthouse Day is Saturday, Sept. 15 – a perfect opportunity to visit my favorite lighthouse, Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse. The view from the top balcony is fabulous, of course, but the whole experience is rewarding. The walk out the breakwater (900 feet long) is fun, hopping from one granite block to another, the climb up the first entry ladder is a bit daunting, but arrival on the first deck gives you a chance to get your bearings and hear the history of the light from a well-informed docent

The United States Congress authorized the light in 1896, responding to petitions from seven steamship lines that carried over 500,000 passengers past a dangerous ledge at Spring Point every year. On May 24, 1897, Head Keeper William Lane of the Lighthouse Service first lit the kerosene lantern. In 1934, the light was electrified, eliminating the job of keeper, and in 1939 the Coast Guard absorbed the Lighthouse Service. The breakwater was built in the early ‘50s, allowing access from the land. The light now is fully automated, flashes continuously every six seconds and is visible for 14 miles. Ships follow the white light into the channel – if they see a red light, they have left the safety of the channel.

Your tour of the light takes you through the kitchen, the quarters of the keeper and his assistant and then up another ladder to the watch room containing the Coast Guard equipment that operates the light and the foghorn. Walk out on to the upper balcony for that splendid view –the islands of Casco Bay, the Portland skyline, Fort Gorges and Fort Scammel, the ferryboats, perhaps a sailboat race or a tanker gliding by to dock at Portland Pipe Line.

The Spring Point Ledge Light Trust was formed in 1998 in response to the new policy of the Coast Guard Service – ownership of lighthouses would be turned over to local entities although the Coast Guard would continue to maintain the navigational aids. The mission of the trust is to preserve the light, to open it to the public as often as possible and to educate the public on its history and the continued need for navigational aids. This year, the trust is manning a new well-constructed booth, strategically located for the easy sale of tickets and other items such as hats, T-shirts and bumper stickers – a vast improvement over last season’s flimsy canopy, often disturbed by gusty winds. For more information on opening days and hours, you may call 1-866-570-5703, ext. 3.

Museum ?of art exhibits

The Portland Museum of Art always puts on a good show for the summer tourists and this year we have enjoyed two excellent exhibits, “The Draw of the Normandy Coast, 1860 – 1960” and “Maine Sublime: Frederic Edwin Church’s Landscapes of Mount Desert and Mount Katahdin.” The latter is installed on the fourth floor and since I like to take house guests right up to the fourth floor by elevator and then walk down through the museum, we began our visit with Frederic Edwin Church. We were amazed to learn how much time Church spent in Maine – we knew he had traveled widely and painted many scenes of South America, Europe and the Middle East – we did not know he made many trips to Mount Desert, starting in 1850 when he spent six weeks on a summer vacation. His painting, “Sunset, Bar Harbor” circa 1854, is a gorgeous rendition of a Maine sky after the sun has set with a fiery afterglow reflected on the calm waters of an inlet with 2 sailboats safely anchored for the night.

Beginning in 1852, and dozens of times over the next decades, he ventured away from the coast and into the wilderness, especially the area near Mount Katahdin. Finally, in 1878 he bought 400 acres on Millinocket Lake and built a camp for himself and his family. His exquisite painting, “Mount Katahdin From Millinocket Camp” (owned by the PMA) was completed in 1895 just a few years before his death. The mountain dominates the picture, looming majestically over the lake, but in the foreground a lone figure paddles a canoe towards shore. The painting was a birthday gift for his wife and Church wrote her this message – “Your old guide is paddling his canoe in the shadow, but he knows that the glories of the heavens and earth are seen more appreciatively when the observer rests in the shade.”

The Normandy Coast exhibit was equally rewarding. The museum owns the iconic oil by Claude Monet, “La Mannaporte Seen From Below” – that seems to have been the inspiration for this exhibition, which explores the attraction this particular piece of the French coast held (and holds) for an incredible number of artists. The museum also owns “Cliffs at Etretat” by Samuel Colman, who was born in Portland and founded the American Watercolor Society. This watercolor shows the “Great Gate” and white cliffs, but the attraction here is the brilliant sapphire blue sea and the mossy green pasture covering the cliffs.

George Inness painted Etretat, although in his oil the white cliffs are in the background. Dark stormy clouds line the horizon but in the foreground we see a pleasant pastoral scene, a couple strolling along a path while cows and sheep graze peacefully in the meadow. Henri Matisse had a different experience in Entretat. Accompanied by his daughter, who was recovering from an operation, he spent many hours in her hotel room. Intrigued by the view out the window, he painted “Open Window, Entretat” The rosy-colored sands of the beach with the flat blue sea beyond, evoke a calm, idyllic world. All of us were attracted to a large canvas, undated, by a mysterious F.B., entitled “Hot Air Ballooning Off Normandy.” Again, the white cliffs are present, but this time four spectacular balloons, carrying passengers, fill the sky, one sporting the French flag. On the beach below, children run with the waves, a dog frolics, and ladies sit primly under their parasols.

Marta Bent lives in Scarborough.