National Register Listing

Stage Island Monument

a.k.a. Stage Island Daybeacon

NE of Hills Beach on Stage Island , .6 mi. N of mouth of Biddeford Pool, Biddeford, ME

The Stage Island Monument is a Federal aid to navigation built in 1825 as a day beacon serving as a visual landmark for mariners. It marks the northern entry to Wood Island Harbor, a sheltered anchorage approximately midway between Portland, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This property is historically significant in York County on the local level. Its historical significance begins in 1825 and ends in 1969, fifty years before the present. The Stage Island Monument is one of two nineteenth-century monumental day beacons in Maine.

This property's significance relates to maritime history and transportation. It exemplifies the Federal government's long-term program to enhance nautical safety in United States waters by constructing and maintaining aids to navigation. The Stage Island Monument is a well-preserved example of design and engineering methods used in building early nineteenth-century masonry towers. It is essentially unchanged from when built and possesses integrity in the historical qualities of design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. It also occupies its original location in a setting that remains essentially the same as during the period of historical significance. This property has been a significant feature in the southeastern Maines maritime landscape for 194 years. It is widely recognized as a York County historic landmark.

Local significance of the structure:
Maritime History; Transportation; Architecture

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.