Squirrel Point 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 ...

marking the southwestern point of

Arrowsic Island Arrowsic is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population is 477 as of the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. During the French and Indian W ...

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 ...

. 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 Perkins Island Light is a lighthouse on the Kennebec River in Maine. It was established in 1898, as part of a major upgrade of the river's lights — the Doubling Point Light and the separate Range Lights on the point, Perkins Island Lig ...

, and Squirrel Point Light were all built at the same time. The light station 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 Squirrel Point Light Station on January 21, 1988.

Description and history

Arrowsic Island is a large island on the

Mid Coast The Midcoast is a region of Maine that includes the coastal counties of Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Sagadahoc, and the northern coastal portion of Cumberland counties. Some of the towns are: *Alna * Arrowsic * Bath *Belfast *Boothbay * Boothbay ...

of Maine, bounded by a number of tidal rivers. The main one, the

, is on the west side of the island, flowing south from the major port and shipbuilding city of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

to the

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast ...

. Squirrel Point is the southwestern tip of the island. The light station at Squirrel Point includes a tower, keeper's house, barn, boathouse, and oil house. The tower is an octagonal wood-frame structure, with the lantern house topped by a ventilator and surrounded by an iron railing and wooden bracketed gallery. A gabled sound signal chamber is attached to one side. The keeper's house is a two-story wood-frame structure with a cross-gable roof. with The United States Congress authorized improvements to the

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 ...

on the Kennebec River in 1895, and this station was built under that authorization in 1898. The oil house was added in 1906, and the station was automated in 1982.

Gallery

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

Gallery

See also

References