Doubling Point Lighthouse

     Doubling Point Lighthouse was established in 1898 on the northwest end of Arrowsic Island, at a sharp double bend in the Kennebec River, near the busy shipbuilding harbor of Bath. It was one of several aids to navigation built on the river in the same year.

     A wood-frame keeper's house, a shed, and a bell tower were erected in 1898 along with an octagonal lighthouse tower. In 1899, the lighthouse was moved offshore to a stone pier connected to the island by a footbridge. The fog bell was relocated to the lighthouse tower, and the bell tower was moved and converted into a garage.

    The station received a boathouse in 1901, and an oil house was added in 1906.

     The Doubling Point Light remains an active aid to navigation, and the light itself is still maintained by the Coast Guard. Under the Maine Lights Program, the lighthouse was transferred to the Friends of Doubling Point Light in April 1998. The group, led by President James A. E. Spencer, had been working to save the lighthouse since 1996.

     Over the decades, ice floes in the Kennebec damaged and shifted the tower's foundation of granite blocks. With the goal of repairing the foundation, the Friends of Doubling Point Light raised roughly $25,000. The group received a matching grant from the Kurt Berliner Foundation of New York.  The funds allowed for repairs to the walkway as well as the work on the foundation.

     In December 1999, the tower was lifted off the foundation with a crane and placed on a barge, then moved into temporary storage at a docking facility in Woolwich. A contractor, Reed and Reed, reset the granite blocks, each weighing about six tons.

     The foundation's core was filled with concrete, and steel tie rods were inserted to hold the blocks together. In January 2000, the repairs were completed and the lighthouse was returned to its home.

     Directions:  From U.S. Route 1 in Bath, take the High Street/RT 209 exit to Phippsburg.  The Light may be seen across the river just a short distance south of Bath or from the grounds of the Maine Maritime Museum.  Alternatively, from U.S. 1 in Woolwich, turn south onto RT 127 and continue to Georgtown.  Continue on ME 127 past the junction with the road to Reid State Park and into the village of Five Islands, then straight ahead to the lobster coop wharf.  The light can be seen across the Sheepscot Riover about a mile away.  The best photographs can be taken on cruises from Bath and Boothbay Harbor.

     Credits:  I would like to thank Jeremy D'Entremont, webmaster of, http://www.newenglandlighthouses.net/, for sharing the above history.  Jeremy is a speaker, author, historian, and tour guide who is widely recognized as the foremost authority on the lighthouses of New England.  To view a story on him, go to, (Jeremy D'Entremont).  

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