Perkins Island Maine
Harbour Lights #724
Christmas 2008

In 1892, more than 3,000 cargo vessels would enter Maine’s Kennebec River and that does not count the countless steamboats that would carry more than quarter million passengers a year. Up to that time the Kennebec Steamboat Company paid for and maintained the lanterns that hung on buoys to assist mariners in finding their way through the difficult parts and turns on the river.

After two failed attempts, Representative Dingley in 1894 introduced a bill requesting new navigational aids for the Kennebec. Finally on March 2,1895, the United States Congress appropriated $16,725 for the establishment of a “fixed red lens-lantern light” with a fog bell on the southwest point of Perkins Island, east of the river two miles from its mouth.

It was in July of 1897, that title to Perkins Island was granted and a contract for construction was issued.

The original light consisted of a 23’ octagonal wood tower, completed with a six-room Keeper’s dwelling with barn. A 2,350-gallon cistern in the basement of the dwelling held water for the keeper and his family. Lit in February 1898, the beacon ‘s focal plane shone of 41’.

In 1901, a boathouse and slip were added and in 1902, a wood-framed bell tower 1,000-pound bell was constructed just south of the tower. Also that same year, a Fifth Order Fresnel Lens replaced the original lens-lantern. In 1906, a small oil house and additional out building were completed.

Automated in 1959, the fifth Order Lens was replaced by a 250mm optic. In the 1960s all but the lighthouse, which remained an active aid to navigation, were turned over to the State of Maine.

While the United States Coast Guard maintained the lighthouse, the other structures bell tower, and Keeper’s dwelling fell into disrepair. In 1974, the fog bell tower thoroughly funded by the Maine Department of Conservation and a New Century Program Preservation Grant was restored and is now on the grounds of the Georgetown High School.

In 2000, the American Lighthouse Foundation signed a long-term agreement with the United States Coast Guard assuming maintenance of the Perkins Island Lighthouse. In 2003, the Friends of the Perkins Island Lighthouse, a chapter of the Foundation was formed and began the task of preserving the lighthouse. The Keeper’s dwelling, while still controlled by the state has had its front entry rebuilt, the damaged portion of the roof rebuilt and the dwelling has been repainted all through the work of the Friends of the Perkins Island Lighthouse.

Today the FPIL continues to raise funds to restore and preserve this piece of history.

Join Captain William H. Wincapaw, the “Flying Santa” as he makes the Christmas’ dreams of the Perkins Island’s Keeper and his family come true! 2008 is the 79th anniversary of the “Flying Santa” an organization whose mission is to recognize the dedication of the Lighthouse Keepers and the US Coast Guard as true guardians of the seas.