The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse on March 20, 1981.

[1] The city of Rockland is located on the west side of Penobscot Bay in the Mid Coast region of Maine.

It was less than ideally suited to this task, because its large east-facing opening would still subject ships at anchor to storms with winds from the northeast.

Major storms in the 1850s highlighted the need for improved harbor protection, but federal appropriation for a project was not approved until 1880.

Between 1880 and 1900 the United States Army Corps of Engineers, under a series of Congressional appropriations, built the breakwater, which is more than 4,000 feet (1,200 m) long.