The Kennebec River has long been an important waterway, and was
one of the very earliest sites of European settlement. Popham Colony,
at the mouth of the river, was founded in 1607 by English settlers,
and although Popham did not last long, others soon followed. Georgetown-on-Arrowsic,
or "Newtown", which supplied sturgeon to Boston and timber from white
oak and pine that went to the British Royal Navy, was incorporated
in 1716 with forty-one residents and a guard of twenty soldiers to
protect it from hostilities from local tribes, who were justifiably
alarmed by burgeoning, fortified, and increasingly permanent settlements
that cut them off from traditional hunting and fishing grounds. The
Governor of Massachusetts, Samuel Shute, made a visit to Newtown in
August of 1717 with the express purpose of reading the riot act to
Newtown's residents, who were known to have subverted Maine's fine
timber to their own private vessels, and to the local tribes, who
had agreed to meet for a treaty conference on Lee Island, slightly
upriver from Squirrel Point.
On his return voyage, Governor Shute's frigate The Squirrel
ran aground at Squirrel Point, giving Squirrel Point its name and
illustrating the particularly tricky combination of current and tide
at this bend in the river. In the ensuing hundred and fifty years,
the Kennebec became the most important commercial waterway in Maine,
carrying a thriving commerce. Stretching into what is now Canada,
from far upriver many raw materials, including a lucrative trade in
beaver pelts, were exported. With few roads and many islands, local
residents used the river as their highway. The spire which can be
seen across the river from Squirrel Point Light today is of Phippsburg
Congregational Church, built in 1802. Its original was built in 1765,
and the tall tree next to it is the oldest linden tree in Maine, planted
beside the original church. Churchgoers at that time commuted to services
via the water.
Bath, the "City of Ships", was an important shipbuilding center.
As river traffic continued to grow, the Kennebec Steamship Company
and miscellaneous towboat operators cooperated to provide spotty guidance
by hanging lights on river buoys, with often treacherous results.
In 1895 President Grover Cleveland successfully appropriated $4,650
in Congress to commission the Squirrel Point site and construct the
Light tower, keeper's dwelling and barn. Commissioned and built at
the same time, sister lights at Perkins Island (downriver and visible
from Squirrel Point), the Kennebec River Range
Lights and Doubling
Point Light (both upriver), were designed as an integrated system
of navigational aids, and constructed from the same master plans.
All originally had identical Victorian style keeper's quarters, boathouses,
and frame barns.
When it was constructed, Squirrel Point Light would have been facing
Phippsburg's wharves, a customs house (the white building to the left
of the church, now a private residence on the water), two shipyards
which built schooners from 1867-1890, and Center Pond, which was dammed
for ice harvesting (the ice exported to Boston) in 1883. Squirrel
Point's keepers used the landing stage across the river in Phippsburg
as their primary point of access. A further $1,600 was appropriated
for Squirrel Point in 1901 to add the boathouse. In 1902 a 5th order
Fresnel lens was added to the light.
The light was fully automated in 1979, at which time its Fresnel
lens was given to the Museum at Portland Head Light. Squirrel Point
Light's alternating three seconds of light and darkness, still serving
as an aid to navigation and maintained by the Coast Guard, are now
supplied by a modern optic. In 2008, the Coast Guard converted the
Light's power from electric to solar, and disconnected the fog horn
rendered obsolete by the GPS equipment with which boats are today
equipped. (Although literally deafening and often faulty, some neighbors
say they miss it.)
Listed on the National Historic Register in 1988, Squirrel Point,
surrounded by 640 acres of conservation land, has long been a popular
spot not only for lighthouse enthusiasts and historians, but for artists,
photographers, striper fishermen, clammers, hikers, birdwatchers,
kayakers, and picnickers. In 1996, following the enactment of the
Maine Lights Program, Squirrel Point was given to an organization
named Squirrel Point Associates under a deed requiring that the property
be used for the public benefit and maintained according to the provisions
of the National Historic Preservation Act. In 2002, preservation group
Citizens for Squirrel Point, represented pro bono by Verrill & Dana,
LLP of Portland, filed suit in Federal court to activate the reversion
clause in Squirrel Point's deed on the grounds that SPA had failed
to honor these requirements. The court ruled in Citizens' favor in
2005. For the Court's opinion, see: http://www.med.uscourts.gov/opinions/cohen/2005/dmc_01132005_2-03cv193_citizens_v_squirrel_point_affirmed_02222005.pdf.
In February of 2008, Squirrel Point Light found a new steward under
a fifteen year license to The Chewonki Foundation www.chewonki.org,
a non-profit organization dedicated to environmental education, conservation
and wilderness programs.
Squirrel Point Lighthouse Keepers
