March 5, 2026 5:29 AM | York, ME

Sunrise at Nubble Lighthouse: Chasing Color on the York, Maine Coast

At midnight on the 5th it dawned on me that I should check the cloud situation for a possible sunrise, or even a chance to catch the moon setting. I don’t have the best track record of predicting these things properly, but the high clouds really looked like I couldn’t miss this time. I spent another hour researching locations before finally deciding to get a few hours of sleep. I got on the road around 4:15 AM and arrived at Nubble a little after 5. The sun wasn’t coming up until 6:13, so the real show started about 45 minutes before that, when the sky exploded with color under a long exposure. To the naked eye, it still looked dark.

Nubble Lighthouse: A New England Icon

Nubble Lighthouse is a fan favorite amongst lighthouse lovers, and it’s easy to see why. Officially known as Cape Neddick Light, it sits on a small rocky island just off Sohier Park in York, Maine, close enough to the mainland to feel touchable but never accessible by land. The lighthouse was completed in 1879 after Congress appropriated funds to finally light this stretch of treacherous coastline, following decades of shipwrecks near Cape Neddick, including the notorious wreck of the Isidore in 1842. Its 41-foot cast-iron tower still holds one of only a handful of original Fresnel lenses left in Maine.

Today, Nubble is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the country, drawing photographers and artists at all hours for its dramatic light and ever-changing sky. Its fame even reaches beyond Earth: an image of the lighthouse was included on the Voyager Golden Record, making it one of the small handful of American landmarks sent into deep space. For sunrise photographers along the Maine coastline, Nubble remains one of the most rewarding, and most reliably beautiful, spots to set up a tripod.