Perkins Island Light is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

on the

Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 river within the U.S. state of Maine. It ri ...

in Maine. It was established in 1898, as part of a major upgrade of the river's lights — the

Doubling Point Light Doubling Point Light is a lighthouse on the Kennebec River in Arrowsic, Maine. It was established in 1898, fifteen years after the founding of the Bath Iron Works, a major shipbuilder, upriver. It was part of a major upgrade of the river's lights ...

and the separate

Range Lights Leading lights (also known as range lights in the United States) are a pair of light beacons used in navigation to indicate a safe passage for vessels entering a shallow or dangerous channel; they may also be used for position fixing. At night ...

on the point, Perkins Island Light, and Squirrel Point Light were all built at the same time. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as Perkins Island Light Station in 1988.

Description and history

Perkins Island is a small, predominantly wooded island in the southern reaches of the Kennebec River, on the west side of Georgetown Island. It has a teardrop shape, oriented north–south, with the light station located at the westernmost part of the island. The station consists of a tower, keeper's house, barn, bell house, and oil house. The tower is a tapered octagonal wood-frame structure, with its exterior clad in wooden shingles. The lantern light stands above its base, in an octagonal lanternhouse with a surrounding exterior gallery. The keeper's house is a -story L-shaped wood-frame structure, with a cross-gabled roof and wooden shingle exterior. To its north stands a small wood-frame barn, also with a gabled roof and shingled exterior. To the south of the tower stands the oil house, a small brock gable-roofed structure. The bell tower is a pyramidal structure covered in shingles, standing near the shore south of the tower. The light station was authorized by Congress in 1895, following recommendations by the Lighthouse Board in 1892 that the Kennebec River's

aids to navigation Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

be improved. The tower, barn, and keeper's house were completed in 1898, the year the light went into service. The station also originally included a boathouse, which has not survived. The bell tower was added in 1902, and the oil house was added in 1906. The station was automated in 1959, and most of the buildings were transferred to the state in the 1960s. The light continues to serve as an active aid to navigation.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1898 Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Lighthouses in Sagadahoc County, Maine Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Sagadahoc County, Maine 1898 establishments in Maine

Description and history

See also

References