Offshore fishermen and skillful shipbuilders transformed the quiet shores of the Pemaquid Peninsula beginning in 1815. The maritime economy drove local commerce until enterprising locals turned to ice harvesting, granite quarrying, brick making, lobster canning and pogy oil processing before summer tourism grew and thrived. The descendants of revolutionaries became the faces of a more prosperous generation--men like Albert Thorpe, who ran a popular summer hotel on the grounds where his grandfather had salted and dried his catch decades earlier. Today, summer rusticators discover the enduring natural beauty at the heart of the Pemaquid Peninsula. Journey to the past with Pemaquid native and historian Josh Hanna as he discovers these timeless shores.

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse was first constructed in 1827 and still sends its beam out seventy-nine feet above sea level. Light keepers kept the lanterns burning from the 1820s through the 1930s, but they could not prevent every tragedy. Ships have crashed on the rocky shoals, taking sailors to their watery graves, while many others have been swept off the rocks by the powerful surf. Despite advances in technology and automation, the shore around the light remains a dangerous place. Author and historian Trudy Irene Scee uncovers the fascinating story of this iconic Maine lighthouse, its keepers and their families, from the construction of the first light through the present day.