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BHistory
History · Owls Head

Owls Head dates to 1921, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Owls Head Light Station. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1930.

1921founded
1on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Owls Head’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Owls Head began

When was Owls Head founded?

1921

Owls Head dates its founding to 1921 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1930.

First census: 574 in 19302020 census: 1,504105 years

How historic is Owls Head?

B

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1884.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Owls Head’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Owls Head is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Owls Head’s overall grade.
Founding era1921, from Wikidata: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 194034.3% of homes (±6.8) · typical ME town 19.1% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register1 listing, 3 historic buildings, 20.2 per 10,000 residents · typical ME town 15.9 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 57%
NewerOlder

Maine towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Maine town has 15.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Owls Head’s 20.2 sits near the middle of its state (58% of Maine towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1921.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.8 points).

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Owls Head’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 19044 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1973. Watch Owls Head change.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Owls Head, and 3 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1862–1887.
★ What stands out · On the map

Owls Head on the map, 1904 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Owls Head. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Owls Head on the 1904 USGS mapOwls Head on the 1941 USGS mapOwls Head on the 1955 USGS mapOwls Head on the 1973 USGS map1904Rockland sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Owls Head.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Ashpoint, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Ash PointCrescent BeachHoliday Beach
Gone or out of use
Naval Auxiliary Air Station Rocklandmilitary
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Owls Head
Ash PointEvergreenGinn PointHallHead of BayHoliday BeachRose Hill

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

By decade

Owls Head, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1870s9 items
Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Mainetitle QS:P1476,en:"Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Maine"label QS:Len,"Owl's Head, Penobscot…1862Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Mainetitle QS:P1476,en:"Ow…Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Maine1862Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, MaineOwls Head Light (Rockland, Maine)1870Owls Head Light (Rockland, Maine)Entrance to Owl's Head Harbor.Alternate Title: Stereoscopic views of Rockland and Vicinity. 49c. 1872Entrance to Owl's Head Harbor.Alternate Title: Stereo…Entrance to Owl's Head Harbor.Alternate Title: Stereoscopic views of Rockland and Vicinity. 49c. 1872Entrance to Owl's Head Harbor.Alternate Title: Stereo…Owl's Headc. 1872Owl's HeadOwl's Headc. 1872Owl's HeadOwl's Head, from south-east.Alternate Title: Stereoscopic views of Rockland and Vicinity. 41c. 1872Owl's Head, from south-east.Alternate Title: Stereosc…Owl's Head, from south-east.Alternate Title: Stereoscopic views of Rockland and Vicinity. 41c. 1872Owl's Head, from south-east.Alternate Title: Stereosc…
1880s1 item
Fisherman of Owls Head, coast of Maine, after 18871887Fisherman of Owls Head, coast of Maine, after 1887
1890s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown2 to date
Glimpse of Village & HarborDate?Glimpse of Village & HarborOwl's Head Light Station, Off State Highway 73 just east of Rockland on Owl's Head BayDate?Owl's Head Light Station, Off State Highway 73 just e…
Today5 recent
Owls Head Maine, looking toward Monroe Island and Sheep Island2024Owls Head Maine, looking toward Monroe Island and She…Owls Head, Maine2019Owls Head, MaineOff Owl's Head, Maine, by Fitz Henry Lane, 1852, oil on canvas - Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, MA - DSC012042019Off Owl's Head, Maine, by Fitz Henry Lane, 1852, oil …Untitled photo2015Untitled photoUntitled photo2015Untitled photo
The story

How Owls Head came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Owls Head.

Read it all →

When Samuel de Champlain explored Owl's Head in 1605, the Abenaki Indians called it Bedabedec Point, meaning "Cape of the Winds." Mariners would name it for the shape of the promontory, which they thought resembled the head of an owl. First incorporated as part of Thomaston in 1777, and then as part of South Thomaston in 1848, Owls Head was itself set off and incorporated on July 9, 1921. The town is home to both the Owls Head Light Station, a 30-foot (9.1 m) tall granite lighthouse built in 1826 to mark the southern entrance of Rockland Harbor, and to the Owls Head Transportation Museum.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Owls Head, 1825 to 1944

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1825BuiltOwls Head Light Station is built
  3. 1862In the archiveOwl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Mainetitle QS:P1476,en:"Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Maine"label…
  4. 1870In the archiveOwls Head Light (Rockland, Maine)
  5. 1884Post officeThe Ashpoint post office opens
  6. 1887In the archiveFisherman of Owls Head, coast of Maine, after 1887
  7. 20th century
  8. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1921
    FoundingOwls Head is established
  10. 1944Post officeThe Ashpoint post office closes
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Mainetitle QS:P1476,en:"Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Maine"label QS:Len,"Owl's Head, Penobscot…
Retake this viewOwl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Mainetitle QS:P1476,en:"Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Maine"label QS:Len,"Owl's Head, Penobscot…, 1862

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Owls Head’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Owls Head

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Owls Head Light Station
Owls Head Light Station, built 1825
Buildings
Owls Head Light StationBuilt 1825

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Owls Head, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,80019401960198020002020Peak: 1,633

Between 574 and 1,633 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Owls Head’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Owls Head

Nobody well known was born in Owls Head itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Edna St. Vincent MillayAmerican poet · b. 1892
A
Anna BelknapAmerican actress · b. 1972
W
Walter PistonAmerican composer · b. 1894
E
Edward Lawry NortonEngineer · b. 1898
Adelbert AmesUnion Army general and Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1835
Conrad Heyer(1749-1856) American soldier and centenarian · b. 1749
Help out

Finish Owls Head’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewOwl's Head, Penobscot Bay, Mainetitle Q…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

South Thomaston2 historic placesA−North Haven2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRockland23 historic placesA

Questions about Owls Head’s history

What year was Owls Head founded?

In 1921, according to Wikidata. Owls Head’s post office opened in 1884, and the census of 1930 counted 574 people here.

How does Owls Head rank for history?

Owls Head is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Owls Head?

One place: the Owls Head Light Station (listed 1978).

How old are the homes in Owls Head?

34% of Owls Head’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 19% for a Maine town; the median home was built in 1969.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (15), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.