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 Miss
Betsy Boat Tours |
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Lighthouse Tour
(Lighthouse descriptions and photos are from the Cyberlights website
www.cyberlights.com) |
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Travel from
the Atlantic Ocean, past Fort Popham, and up the Kennebec river to the Bath
Iron Works Shipyard (BIW) in Bath Maine. Starting with the Lighthouse
on Seguin Island in the Atlantic Ocean you will see the numerous lighthouses
on the Kennebec River.
4 hour tour - $60.00 per person
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 Seguin
Island
Sitting atop the tall rocky island, Seguin Island Light, Maine’s second
lighthouse, is also at the highest elevation of any other Maine Lighthouse
at 186 feet above sea level. Although the Coast Guard has maintained the
tower, lantern room, and light, the rest of the building had practically
been abandoned. But in 1990 the Friends of Seguin Island Light began the
restoration of the house and buildings. Now, every summer the Friends of
Seguin have a couple act as keepers for the season.
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 Squirrel
Point
One of the lighthouses along the Kennebec River, Squirrel Point light
sits on the southwestern tip of Arrowsic River. The lighthouse was built in
1898. |
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 Perkins
Island
Several aids to navigation were erected in the Kennebec River in 1898 to
aid mariners headed for the shipbuilding center of Bath. A 23-foot octagonal
wooden tower, similar to those at Doubling Point and Squirrel Point, was
erected on seven-acre Perkins Island near the mouth of the river. A
two-story, six room keeper's house was built at the same time, as was a
small barn.
A boathouse, pyramidal wood frame bell tower (1902) and brick oil house
(1906) were added shortly after the turn of the century. A 1910 inspection
reported a 1,000 pound fog bell in use. Perkins Island Light originally had
a fifth order Fresnel lens. The light was automated in 1959 and the lens was
replaced by a modern 250 mm optic in 1979.
The fog bell was removed from the tower and is now on the grounds of the
Georgetown High School.
The light station, except for the tower itself, was transferred to the State
of Maine in the 1960s. In 1974 the Georgetown Conservation Commission ran a
short-lived Marine Awareness Program for high school students on the island.
The Victorian keeper's house is in a state of severe disrepair. In late 2000
a restoration of the bell tower took place, funded by the Maine Department
of Conservation and a New Century Program Preservation Grant, administered
by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. Local resident Joshua Bate
was the project foreman and volunteers from around the state helped with the
restoration.
Perkins Island Light remains an active aid to navigation. The lighthouse
itself was leased in May 2000 to the American Lighthouse Foundation.
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 The
Kennebec River Range
Formerly called the Doubling Point Range Light, this octagonal wooden
structure sits 235 yards from an identically shaped rear light along the
Kennebec River on Arrowsic Island. It is one of four lights located along
the river that guided ships from the Atlantic Ocean to the shipbuilding town
of Bath, Maine. (The others are Doubling Point Light, Perkin's Island Light,
and Squirrel Point Light.) It currently houses a 250 mm modern lens which
was installed in 1980 when the light was automated.
(Source:
Internet Public
Library)
The Kennebec River Range, the only range lights in the First U.S. Coast
Guard District, are unique in function, construction, and history. Proposed
for construction by the National Lighthouse Board in 1892, they were funded
and built in 1898 and have operated on the Kennebec ever since.
The only range lights of Maine's 64 lighthouses, and among the very few
wooden lighthouses in the country, the range lights are twin framed and
shingled octagonal buildings, set 235 yards apart. The front light is 18
feet above mean high water, while the rear light is 33 feet above high
water. The front light flashes continously, while the rear light shows six
quick flashes and an interval.
The Kennebec has always carried heavy sea trade. Though the five-masted
schooners no longer come to trade at Bath, Bath Iron Works builds
destroyers, frigates, and cargo ships which need to pass up and down the
lower ten miles of this fabled river. Because of the navigation to and from
BIW, the U.S. Coast Guard has classified the lights as being "of military
importance." Mariners coming upriver to Bath line up the two range lights as
they pass Ram Island. They follow the lights up the channel until the
Doubling Point Light is in view, and then swing to the west for Bath.
The Kennebec River Range Lights were among the very last in the country to
be automated. Until 1990 a keeper always tended the range, as well as the
Doubling Point and Squirrel Point Lights. One of the last keepers was a
woman, Karen McLean, Bo'suns Mate, USCG.
In addition to the Kennebec River Range, the Range Light Keepers have been
entrusted with the care of an historic fog bell tower one-half mile upriver
from the lights. Since the Coast Guard removed the bell in 1972, the
pyramidical structure has fallen into disrepair. The Keepers have undertaken
its restoration, with the help of friends, and believe that the bell tower
is likely the only Fog Signal of its type undergoing complete restoration.
It is the aim of the Keepers to replace the bell and the "clockworks" that
drove the striker for many years.
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 Doubling
Point Light
This light is one of four lights located along the Kennebec River on
Arrowsic Island that guided ships from the Atlantic Ocean to the
shipbuilding town of Bath, Maine. It is the light closest to Bath, near the
upper end of Fiddler Reach. It is a white, wooden, octagonal tower built on
a square concrete pier. A fifth order Fresnel lens replaced the original
lantern lens in 1902. The Fresnel lens was removed around 1975 and has been
relocated to the Shore Village Museum in Rockland, Maine. The current lens
is a 300 mm modern optic. The tower is currently owned by the Friends of
Doubling Point Light, while the grounds and keeper's dwelling are privately
owned.
(Source:
Internet Public
Library)
On May 29, 1896, the United States of America purchased a plot of land
from Samuel S. Freeman of Arrowsic, Maine. Arrowsic is an island across the
Kennebec River from Bath, a city which has often been called "The City of
Ships" because of its long history of shipbuilding and its importance in
worldwide commerce. Navigation up from the mouth of the Kennebec can be
treacherous for large ships.
In 1892 the Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board discussed the need for
light and fog signals on the Kennebec River. In 1895 the government took
action, and by 1898, four new light stations were established along this
lower segment of the Kennebec River: Perkin's Island Light, Squirrel Point
Light, the Doubling Point Range Lights, and, of course, Doubling Point
Light.
When first built, the Doubling Point Light Station consisted of an octagonal
lighthouse, a keeper's dwelling, a small barn, and a fog bell tower. In 1899
the lighthouse was moved from its original foundation to its present
location at the end of a long catwalk that extends through the marsh and
into the Kennebec River. At the same time, the fog bell was relocated to the
lighthouse itself and the fog bell tower was moved to the rear of the
property and converted into a garage. The original foundation for the
lighthouse tower still lies on a rock ledge at the eastern edge of the
station property. In 1901 a boathouse was built, and in 1902, the
lighthouse's original lens lantern was replaced by a state-of-the-art,
fifth-order fresnel lens. In 1906 a brick oil house was added, and the
station was finally complete.
For nearly forty years Doubling Point Light was manned and maintained by the
United States Lighthouse Service. During this time, only two keepers served
there, Merritt Pinkham (1898-1931) and Charles W. Allen (1931-1935).
However, as time passed, the government decided that it would be more
efficient to run the Doubling Point Lighthouse from the nearby Range Lights.
So on August 13, 1935, the Doubling Point Light Station, with the exception
of the lighthouse itself, was sold to a private owner for $2,200. The USLHS
continued to maintain the Doubling Point Lighthouse until 1939 when the
Coast Guard took over the USLHS. Under Coast Guard management, the
lighthouse remained intact for decades. In the mid nineteen-seventies, the
fresnel lens was removed from the tower. It is now part of the collection at
the Shore Village Museum in Rockland, Maine. In August 1980 the bell was
removed by the Coast Guard. Its current whereabouts is unknown. In 1985, the
catwalk and the graceful white arches of its railing were replaced with a
new walk of unpainted, pressure-treated wood.
Source:
Friends of Doubling Point Light
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