Bass Harbor Head Light stands in Acadia National Park on the southwest side of Mount Desert Island, Maine, guarding the entrance to Bass Harbor and Blue Hill Bay along a rocky coast. Authorized by a federal decision in 1855 and first lit on September 1, 1858, it later gained a fog bell and tower in 1876 and a larger bell in 1898. The station retains several historic structures, including the largely original keeper’s house and a brick oil house built in 1902. That year, its Fresnel lens was replaced with a larger Henry-Lepaute lens that remains in use.