Beacon has represented 84 decommissioned lighthouse keepers' houses, fog-signal stations and coastal cottages across Maine, Nova Scotia and the Outer Banks since 2010. We pull the logbook before we list the house.
A 1,940-sqft 1858 keeper's cottage on Bass Harbor with original granite stair to the lantern room (decommissioned but intact) and 220 ft of harbor frontage.
A 1854 keeper's house on the Owl's Head Light Station, decommissioned 1989, with 340 ft of granite shoreline, the original lantern stair, and full station outbuildings.
Three things we do that no other coastal brokerage does.
Every Beacon listing carries a documented chain of custody from the original 19th-century commissioning through Coast Guard decommission to private title. We pull NARA records on every property.
We commission a National Archives researcher to retrieve and bind a facsimile of the original keeper's logbook for the station. Buyers receive it at closing. It typically runs 80–240 pages.
Salt air, granite seating, the difference between a fog-signal building and a paint locker — we commission a coastal engineer with station experience to survey every property. The brochure includes the report.
A keeper's house is 80% history and 20% real estate. Most listings get the math wrong. The granite is the easy part. The logbook is the hard one.
Inés found the original Coast Guard logbook from 1932 in the National Archives and bound a facsimile into the brochure. The buyers framed it the day they moved in.
"We took 14 listings last year and walked 41 stations. Decommissioned keepers' houses come up perhaps three times a year per state. Each is the only one of its kind."
Commission and inclusions, plainly. The logbook research is always included on Boutique tier and above.
For coastal cottages and waterfront properties under $1M.
Our most-requested package for decommissioned keeper's houses and stations.
Trophy stations with intact granite, original Fresnel optic, or full acreage.
If yours is not here, write to Inés — answers within a day.
ines@beacon.realtyWe take 7 listing calls a month. Tell us the station, the date, the granite — and Inés or Adelaida will meet you on the headland at the hour the light is on.