Owls Head State Park is located just a couple of miles off of Route 73 in Owls Head, Maine. It is operated in partnership with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) who maintains an 1852 lighthouse on a granite ledge overlooking Penobscot Bay. The park will provide you access to a picnic grove, a small rocky beach, and opportunities to walk the grounds around the lighthouse.
Read more below for details about the Park including what I think about the lighthouse, beach, and a reminder for off-season visits to State Parks!
Parking Details:
You can access Owls Head State Park just a couple of miles off of Route 73. The access road to the park is a dirt road with many potholes so definitely take it slow heading into the park.
Upon entering Owls Head State Park, you will notice on your left-hand side, a cemetery. This is the Lighthouse/Merriman Cemetery and you can find a bit of history about the cemetery here.
If you are coming in with a camper or RV, there is definitely room to fit and turn around within the parking lot of the park. However, the potholes at the entrance would need to be taken into consideration.
Playground Details:
There is no playground at this park.
Hiking Trail Details:
There are no hiking trails at this park. It is a little walk up to the lighthouse on the USCG access road and to the beach on a smaller utility road.
Beach Details:
You can access a small beach by heading left at the kiosk at the head of the parking lot. The storms of 2024 have appeared to have caused some erosion/destruction of the beach. This is a rocky/pebble beach with great views of Penobscot Bay and the ferries going in and out of Rockland.
If your kiddos are into filling their beach buckets with treasures of rocks, shells, occasional sea glass, and driftwood, this little beach offers a world of exploration. If planning to spend some time at the beach at Owls Head State Park, plan to come around low tide for the best beach access.
While I wouldn’t choose this beach for a beach day, especially when the sandy, dreamy beach at Birch Point State Park is just down the road, there was a family who set up for the day there.
Picnic Details:
There is a small picnic grove off of the parking lot.
Location of the Passport Station:
If you are working towards collecting stamps for the Passport Program, you will be able to find the Passport Station off to the side of the parking lot. You will be able to find this station near the kiosk and privy at the head of the parking lot.
Fees:
There are no fees charged at this location!
Bathroom Low Down:
You will find one privy at the kiosk station at the head of the parking lot. Off season reminder: While the bathrooms are usually stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer, it is usually a good idea to have some readily available in your car. Check out my favorite biodegradable toilet paper and hand sanitizer!
Visitor Accessibility:
Again you will find that Owls Head State Park is not listed on the accessibility guide and does not have any accessibility ratings.
From my experience, a stroller and/or a beach wagon will be able to traverse the USCG access road and the utility road to the beach. However, both the lighthouse and the beach are pretty inaccessible for anyone with mobility concerns. The lighthouse has a series of stairs (A LOT of them!) and the beach has a small drop down (due to storm erosion, I would guess) in order to actually access the beach.
For my rationale for including this in the blog and why I think including official accessibility documents for all Maine State Parks is essential, head to my State Park Series Intro Blog.
Overall Impression:
We visited Owls Head State Park as part of our week-long camping trip around the midcoast. On previous days we had visited Moose Point State Park as well as Birch Point State Park. Owls Head was our last stop on the “State Park tour” for this camping trip. Our daughter is working on collecting stamps as part of the Passport Program for Maine State Parks and a stop at Owls Head was a must!
The views around the lighthouse are great, the history of the lighthouse is great, the free access is AWESOME but, in my opinion, this isn’t a great park for young kids; especially when Birch Point State Park is just down the road.
I will say that my daughter’s favorite part of our trip to Owls Head State Park was the beach. It was a good exploring beach and she definitely wanted to stay longer and let her imagination run wild with the large pieces of driftwood, shells, rocks, seaweed, and the occasional seaglass that we found on the beach.
My tips for this park are pretty simple: a quick trip to the lighthouse, give time to explore the beach, and be sure to bring the essentials if visiting during the off-season: biodegradable toilet paper and hand sanitizer!
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Happy Adventuring! ~Natalie