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Geographic coordinates: 43° 42' 30" N 69° 45' 30" W
Nearest towns: Phippsburg and Georgetown. Located about 1.5 miles south of the mouth of the Kennebec River.
Established: 1795. Present lighthouse built: 1857. Automated: 1985.
Height of tower: 53 feet. Height of focal plane: 186 feet.
Optic: First-order Fresnel lens.
Characteristic: Fixed white.
Fog signal: Two blasts every 20 seconds.
For more than two centuries, a light on Seguin Island has been an important guide for mariners heading down the coast for Portland as well as those entering the Kennebec River toward Bath and other ports. The building of the original lighthouse was approved by President George Washington in 1794. The station was established a year later at a cost of about $6,400.
The first keeper was Count John Polereczky, a Hungarian Hussar who fought with French troops during the American Revolution. The original wooden tower had to be rebuilt in 1819, this time of stone. The 1819 lighthouse proved sturdier than the first, but a new 53-foot stone tower was built in 1857 after an appropriation of $35,000. Because of the heavy shipping in the area, a first-order Fresnel lens, Maine’s most powerful light, was installed in the lantern. It remains the only operational first-order Fresnel lens north of Rhode Island. The lens was restored in 2006.
Elson Small was keeper from 1926 to 1930. His wife, Connie, later wrote about Seguin in her book, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife. Connie remembered spirited sing-alongs and wrestling matches between the keepers and visiting carpentry crews. She especially loved being in the lantern at sunset, when it was time to “light up.”
Frank Bracey, formerly on the Portland Lightship, was keeper at Seguin from 1926 to 1945. He claimed to have seen seagulls knocked from the air by the concussion of the station’s powerful foghorn, which on at least one occasion was heard as far away as Bath, 14 miles distant.
A popular ghost story concerns a nineteenth-century keeper’s wife who played the same tune over and over on her piano. The keeper was driven insane and destroyed the piano with an axe, then killed his wife and himself. Legend has it that the piano tune can still be heard drifting from the island on calm nights.
After its automation in 1985, the future of the station was uncertain. Concerned local citizens founded the Friends of Seguin Island in 1986. (Friends of Seguin Island Inc., Box 866, Bath, Maine 04530. 207-443-4808, www.seguinisland.org) In 1998, under the Maine Lights Program, the property was transferred to the group. Grants and donations paid for the restoration of the keeper’s house. Since 1990, caretakers have lived on the island in summer.
You can drive to Popham Beach for distant views. To reach the beach, take Route 209 South from Route 1 in Bath and follow the signs to Popham Beach State Park. For more information on the park, call (207) 389-1335.
The Friends of Seguin Island maintain an up-to-date list of boat operators who can take you to the island; check www.seguinisland.org for the current options. Atlantic Seal Cruises of Freeport offers a seasonal coastal cruise that includes a two-hour stop at Seguin; see www.atlanticsealcruises.com or call 207-865-6112.
You can get a view of the lighthouse from cruises offered by Cap’n Fish’s Whale Watch and Scenic Boat Tours (207-633-6605, www.boothbayboattrips.com) in Boothbay Harbor and by the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath (207-443-1316, www.mainemaritimemuseum.org).
Fascinating Fact 
This is the highest navigational light above the sea in Maine.
