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Marshall Point Lighthouse Webcam – Port Clyde Harbor
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About this webcam
The Marshall Point Lighthouse Webcam looks out from the granite point at the entrance to Port Clyde Harbor in St. George, Maine, straight down the raised wooden walkway that runs out to the 1857 tower. The camera sits on the shore behind the keeper’s house, so the ramp leads through the middle of the frame with the squat white tower at the end of it and the outer harbor beyond. Ledge and cobble fill the foreground at low tide and go under as the water comes back. Lobster boats and the Monhegan Island mail boat cross the channel, and a scene that reads gray on gray at dawn can change once the fog lifts.
About Marshall Point Lighthouse
A light has stood here since 1832, when a conical rubblestone tower went up 6 meters (20 feet) tall and 5.2 meters (17 feet) across at the base. It did not last. The present tower replaced it in 1857, built of granite and brick and standing 9.1 meters (30 feet) high, which puts the light about that far above the water. The characteristic is a fixed white light, and its job is narrow: marking the harbor entrance. A fifth-order Fresnel lens sat in the lantern from 1857 until 1971 and came back to the station’s own museum in 2020, after years on display at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockport. The Coast Guard swapped the beacon for an LED in 2017.
The white house beside the tower is the second one on the site. Lightning destroyed the original 1832 dwelling in 1893 and the building now in frame went up in 1895. One keeper dominates the record: Charles Clement Skinner tended the light from 1874 to 1919, the longest run any keeper served at a single lighthouse in the history of the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The St. George Historical Society took on restoring the dwelling in 1986 and opened its first floor as the Marshall Point Lighthouse Museum on June 30, 1990. The tower passed to the Town of St. George in 1998.
The walkway is why many people recognize this place without knowing its name. It is where Forrest ends his run across the country in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, and it is the most exposed structure on the point: rebuilt in the fall of 2017, damaged again by a storm in January 2024. The grounds open daily from sunrise to sunset, so people walking the ramp out and back are a regular part of the view.
Weather and Climate in Port Clyde
Winter is the hard season here. January averages a high near 0 C (32 F) and a low around minus 8 C (18 F), and the year brings about 135 centimeters (53 inches) of snow on top of 1,189 millimeters (46.8 inches) of precipitation. Nor’easters come in from the southeast with the open Atlantic behind them, which is how the walkway came to need repair in January 2024. Spring lags because the water stays cold long after the air warms: April runs about 9 C (49 F) by day and 2 C (35 F) at night, and the frame is often a raw flat gray.
July is the peak at roughly 22 C (72 F) by day and 14 C (57 F) overnight, mild rather than hot. Sea fog is a standing feature of the coast through early summer, and when it settles the Marshall Point Lighthouse Webcam can lose the tower for an hour and get it back just as fast. Autumn gives the most reliable views. September holds near 18 C (65 F) with lows around 11 C (52 F) and October cools to about 13 C (56 F) and 6 C (43 F), with a low sun that picks out the ledges and the rail of the ramp.
Things to Do Near Marshall Point Lighthouse
Port Clyde is a working harbor rather than a resort, and the short walk from the light into the village is most of the visit. The Monhegan Boat Line sails from the village dock to Monhegan Island and runs puffin cruises and nature trips out among the offshore ledges. Fresh Catch and the Port Clyde Lobster Co-op sell fish and lobster off the wharf. Port Clyde Kayaks rents kayaks and paddleboards from Memorial Day through Indigenous Peoples Day. For food there is the Dip Net Restaurant on the dock, Squid Ink Coffee and the Port Clyde General Store.
This stretch of coast is Wyeth country. Linda Bean’s Maine Wyeth Gallery occupies the upper floor of the general store, and Wyeths By Water runs a two and a half hour lobster boat tour to the places the family painted, from late May into early October. Drift Inn Beach, east of the village in St. George, has swimming, rocks and tide pools. About 30 minutes northeast are the Owls Head Transportation Museum, Owls Head State Park with its own lighthouse, and Birch Point State Park. The station grounds hold a nature trail and a fishermen’s memorial.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Marshall Point Lighthouse located?
At 178 Marshall Point Road in Port Clyde, a village in the town of St. George, Knox County, Maine, on the point at the harbor entrance. Owls Head is about 30 minutes northeast by road, Camden roughly 35 minutes.
What can you see on the Marshall Point Lighthouse Webcam?
The raised wooden walkway and the white 1857 tower at the end of it, the granite ledges along the shore, and the outer harbor past the light. Boats moving in and out of Port Clyde cross the frame.
What is the weather like in Port Clyde, Maine?
Cold winters and mild summers. January averages about 0 C (32 F) by day and minus 8 C (18 F) at night, July about 22 C (72 F) and 14 C (57 F). Sea fog is common in early summer.
Was Marshall Point Lighthouse in Forrest Gump?
Yes. The wooden walkway out to the tower is where Forrest stops and turns around at the end of his cross country run in the 1994 film.
How tall is Marshall Point Lighthouse?
The granite and brick tower stands 9.1 meters (30 feet) tall and the light sits about 9.1 meters (30 feet) above sea level. It replaced an 1832 rubblestone tower 6 meters (20 feet) high.
Can you visit Marshall Point Lighthouse?
The grounds are open daily from sunrise to sunset at no charge. The museum fills the first floor of the 1895 keeper’s house and opens from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, Sunday and Monday 12:00 to 4:00 and Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 4:00. Admission is free and donations are accepted.
When was Marshall Point Lighthouse automated?
In 1971, when the fifth-order Fresnel lens came out of the lantern. The lens returned to the site’s museum in 2020, an LED beacon went in during 2017, and the tower has belonged to the Town of St. George since 1998.