Bear Island Light stands near Mount Desert Island at the entrance to Northeast Harbor on the Maine coast and has guided navigation there since its establishment in 1839. Authorized in 1838 after the federal government acquired two acres on Bear Island, the station began as a stone keeper’s house with the light on top, but that structure burned in 1852. A brick tower and Fresnel lens followed, and most of the present complex dates to 1889. Discontinued by the Coast Guard in 1981, the light was restored after the property became part of Acadia National Park and was relit in 1989 as a private aid to navigation.