Seguin Island Light Station

Oct. 15, 2019
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SEGUIN ISLAND LIGHT

Location: KENNEBEC RIVER/SOUTH OF GEORGETOWN 
Station Established: 1795 
Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1857 
Operational? YES 
Automated? YES 1985 
Deactivated: n/a 
Foundation Materials: SURFACE ROCK 
Construction Materials: GRANITE BLOCKS/BRICK 
Tower Shape: CYLINDRICAL 
Markings/Pattern: WHITE W/BLACK LANTERN 
Relationship to Other Structure: ATTACHED 
Original Lens: FIRST ORDER, FRESNEL 1857 

Historical Information:

  • Highest lighthouse on the Maine coast.
  • 1795 – 38’ tall wooden tower built for $6,300.
  • 1819 – 2nd lighthouse, granite stone tower, built after the original lighthouse was toppled by a storm.
  • 1857 – A larger granite block lighthouse built and 1st order Fresnel lens installed. Keeper’s house built.
  • 1889 – Fog signal tower built.
  • 1892 – Oil house built.
  • 1953 – Electric generators installed.
  • 1985 – Lighthouse automated.
  • 1986 – Friends of Sequin Island formed. Friends received a 10-year lease on the station.
  • 1998 – Property transferred outright to the Friends of Sequin Island.

Keepers: 

  • John Polereszky (1796-1802)
  • Christopher Pushard (assistant, 1796-1802)
  • John Hollaway (assistant? c.1800)
  • Moses Haskell (1802-1822)
  • Jonathan Delano (1822-1825)
  • Spencer Delano (assistant? c.1820)
  • John Salters (1825-1839)
  • Nathaniel Springer Todd (1839-1849)
  • James Marston (1849-1853)
  • A. E. Osgood (1853-1857)
  • Boyd L. Miles (assistant, 1855)
  • Joseph King (assistant, 1855)
  • Stephen Marston Jr. (1857)
  • Daniel Dodge (1857)
  • John C. Lowell (1857-1859)
  • Granville Lowell (1859-1861)
  • Tallman B. Lowell (assistant, 1859-1860)
  • William M. Knight (1860-1861)
  • Zina H. Spinney (1861-1866)
  • P. O. Spinney (assistant, 1861-1865)
  • David Spinney 2nd (assistant, 1861-1863)
  • David Spinney (assistant, 1863-1865)
  • Rachel Spinney (assistant, 1865-1866)
  • William S. Oliver (assistant, 1865-1866)
  • Francis L. Morrill (1866-1868)
  • William C. Marr (assistant, 1866)
  • Ephraim S. Marr (assistant, 1866 and 1874-1875)
  • Henry E. Morrill (1866-1867)
  • Charles S. Morrill (assistant, 1866-1867)
  • Jane Morrill (assistant, 1867-1869)
  • Arthur Hutchins (assistant, 1867-1869)
  • Samuel G. Crane (1867-1875)
  • O. B. Crane (assistant, 1868-1871)
  • J. B. Crane (assistant, 1868-1974)
  • Louisa N. Lane (Crane?) (assistant, 1871-1872)
  • Turner Jewett (assistant, 1872)
  • Elisha B. Crane (assistant, 1874-1875)
  • Thomas Day (1875-1886)
  • Thomas Bibber (assistant, 1876-1880)
  • Willis E. Chase (assistant, 1875)
  • Henry Wiley (assistant, 1881-1882)
  • Samuel Cavanor (assistant, 1882)
  • Fernando Wallace (assistant, 1882-1886)
  • Edwin M. Wyman (assistant, 1886-1889)
  • Henry Day (1886-1890)
  • Henry M. Clark (assistant, 1887)
  • William H. Wyman (assistant, 1888-1889)
  • Jesse Pierce (assistant, 1889)
  • Merritt P. Pinkham (assistant 1889-1890, head keeper 1890-1898)
  • Parker O. Healey (assistant, 1890-1893)
  • William A. Stetson (assistant 1898)
  • Fred Hodgkins (assistant, 1903)
  • George A. Lewis (1898-1903 and 1907-1912)
  • Herbert L. Spinney (assistant 1893-1898, head keeper 1903-1907)
  • Walter S. Adams (assistant, 1907-1908)
  • Clifford B. Staples (assistant, 1908-1912)
  • Henry M. Cuskley (1912-1915)
  • Maurice M. Weaver (1915-1922)
  • Arthur Marston (assistant? 1921-1923)
  • Napoleon B. Fickett (1922-1926)
  • Elson L. Small (1926-1930)
  • Frank E. Bracey (assistant 1926-1930, head keeper 1930-1931)
  • Millard H. Urquhart (assistant 1928-1931, head keeper 1931-1938)
  • Jasper L. Cheney (assistant, 1930-1931)
  • Joseph M. Conners (assistant, 1931-1936)
  • Donald E. Robbins, assistant (1930-1932)
  • Clinton L. Dalzell (assistant, 1932-1933)
  • Floyd E. Singer (assistant, 1932-1933)
  • Truman L. Lathrop (assistant, 1933-1934)
  • Benjamin Stockbridge (assistant, 1934)
  • Ernest F. Witty (assistant, 1935)
  • George A. McKenney (assistant, 1935-1936)
  • Clarence Skolfield (assistant, 1936-1944; Coast Guard head keeper 1944-1946)
  • Arthur G. Hill (assistant, 1936-1938)
  • Maxwell A. DeShon (assistant, 1938-1941)

Researched and written by Marie Vincent, a volunteer through the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.