Welcome to Isle au Haut, where our classic 1907 Victorian lighthouse guides you through a harbor rich in history and adventure. The Isle au Haut Lighthouse is best seen from the water, where the Isle au Haut mailboat passes within a hundred feet of the tower. Plying the thoroughfare alongside passenger schooners and the local island fishing fleet, the mail boat makes daily summer trips to both the Isle au Haut town landing and Duck Harbor, where you will find the wilderness section of Acadia National Park. A hiker’s paradise of primitive trails and panoramic views, the island is remarkably uncrowded, as no automobile ferry has ever landed here.
Our village boasts a tiny post office, The Island Store (for groceries and sundries) and a fully-functional one-room schoolhouse. Seasonally, the Maine Lobster Lady food truck and Shore Shop Gifts provide delicious food and Maine-made gifts for island visitors. Best of all for you lighthouse aficionados, the privately-owned Keeper’s House Inn provides lodging beside the lighthouse. There, you can enjoy sunsets over the Camden Hills and the lighthouse beacon guides mariners to safe harbor.
Inside the tower, a modest display of photographs and old documents leads you on a brief tour up to the lantern and the catwalk around it. Admission inside is limited to docent-guided tours or special occasions.
Whether you come to visit by mail boat, as a guest at the Keeper’s House, on an arranged tour, or simply by viewing our website, you’ll learn about the joys and challenges of being stationed at a turn-of the-century lighthouse and the inherent responsibility to keep the lighthouse shining. It is a serious responsibility: that’s why together, the Town of Isle au Haut and the Friends of the Isle au Haut Lighthouse have mounted a plan under the guidance of the Maine State Historic Preservation Office to restore the lighthouse. Our mission, as the Friends of the Isle au Haut Lighthouse, is to support this effort and to ensure the lighthouse shines into perpetuity.
We thank you for visiting and invite you to join our effort.