Accessibility: 
Geographic coordinates: 43° 48' 14" N 69° 35' 58" W
Nearest town: Boothbay Harbor. Located about a half-mile offshore, south of Ocean Point, in Fisherman’s Passage.
Established: 1883. Present lighthouse built: 1883. Automated: 1965.
Height of tower: 35 feet. Height of focal plane: 36 feet.
Earlier optic: Fourth-order Fresnel lens. Present optic: 250 mm.
Characteristic: 3 seconds red alternating with 3 seconds darkness.
Fog signal: One blast every 30 seconds.
The history of aids to navigation on Ram Island began in the mid-1800s when a fisherman began hanging a lantern at night for the benefit of local mariners. The fisherman left the area after a number of years, and the lantern was kept by a second keeper, then a third and a fourth. For some years after, there was no light. Locals talked of ghosts that warned mariners away from the dangerous rocks.
Congress appropriated $25,000 for a lighthouse in 1883. The brick tower, with a granite base, was erected some yards offshore, and a wooden walkway connected it to the island. The first keeper was Samuel John Cavanor, a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who stayed at the light until he died in 1913. Cavanor had a wooden leg. He had been on the crew of a lighthouse tender, and a buoy raised by a derrick swung and crushed his leg.
In 1977, the Coast Guard repaired the lighthouse for $44,000 and removed the walkway, which had fallen into disrepair. During this renovation, 14,000 bricks were replaced in the tower, and the masonry base was repointed. The boathouse was destroyed in the great blizzard of February 6–7, 1978.
The property was transferred to the Grand Banks Schooner Museum Trust in 1998. The Ram Island Preservation Society, part of the trust, has restored the house and reconstructed the walkway from the shore to the lighthouse tower. For more information, contact the Ram Island Preservation Society, P.O. Box 123, Boothbay, Maine 04537. Phone: 207-633-4727.
You can see the lighthouse distantly from Ocean Point in East Boothbay. From Route 27 in Boothbay Harbor, take Route 96 to the east and then south to Ocean Point. There’s a two-mile loop road that will take you back to Route 96. You can pull to the side of the road for views of the lighthouse. You can get closer views from cruises offered by the Maine Maritime Museum (207-443-1316, www.mainemaritimemuseum.org) in Bath, and by Cap’n Fish’s Whale Watch and Scenic Boat Tours (207-633-6605, www.boothbayboattrips.com), Balmy Days Cruises (207-633-2284, www.balmydayscruises.com), and Goddess of the Sea Cruises (207-649-2628, www.goddesscruise.com) in Boothbay Harbor.
Fascinating Fact 
Legend has it that on one unusually dark night, before a lighthouse was established here, a sailor was approaching the ledges around Ram Island when he saw a woman in white waving a lighted torch over her head. The sailor veered off just in time to avoid being dashed on the rocks.
