DOUBLING POINT RANGE LIGHTS, ME. The octagonal, wood and shingle structures are connected by a wooden walkway. The towers are 13' tall, have red pyramidal roofs, are mounted on granite foundations, and are 235 yards apart. The station’s keepers’ residence, also built in 1898, is a 2-story wood-framed Victorian dwelling occupied by a caretaker. The site includes a fuel shed (1898), a boathouse (1901), and an oil house (1902). When built, both towers were equipped with 5th-order Fresnel optics. One of the Fresnel lenses is active in the Rockland Harbor Southwest Lighthouse. The optics were automated in 1979, removed and replaced by modern plastic 250 mm lenses. The front light shows a single quick flash, the rear light shows a white light timed for 3 seconds on, 3 seconds off.
The aids are the only active range lights in Maine. Captains and pilots align the lights as they approach Fiddler Reach, the river’s sharp double bend at Doubling Point.
The U.S. Coast Guard maintains the active optics. The Coast Guard restored the rear tower in 1996. In 1998 the lights and nearby fog signal were transferred to a new preservation group, the Range Light Keepers, under the Maine Lights program. The site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Kennebec River Light Station.
ABAGADASSET POINT RANGE LIGHTS, ME. An article in the January, 2001 edition of Lighthouse Digest supplied the data we used to search for these lights, but we were unable to locate the remains of either the lights or the still-standing oil house in the hour we rode and walked searching for the remains. We drove on what could have been what the author of the article described as “a barely recognizable road leading to about 100' from the front light,” but could not locate anything resembling range light remains.
Sunday found us back on the road for the two remaining lights we could see by car:
ANASAGUNTICOOK FAUX LIGHT, ME. Built by a Canton, ME resident, this lighthouse has become an unofficial symbol of the Town of Canton. The builder built his own island on a shallow spot near the outlet of the Lake Anasagunticook. Taking rocks from old stone walls that he bought for $1/yard, he moved some of the rocks out to the shallow spot in the winter. When the ice melted, the rocks would settle into place. The cracks and holes were filled in with coal ashes, then the site was leveled off with oak and hemlock bark from a local tannery. The waste was produced by the tannery after the tannic acid was removed and used in the tanning process.
The conical stone tower is attached to a field stone cottage. The biggest problem was getting a deed to the island–it did not exist on any record or map. After many arguments the State of Maine finally gave the builder a deed to an island in Lake Anasagunticook.
LADIES DELIGHT LIGHT, ME. Built in 1908, this 16' round stone tower, painted white, with wood lantern and gallery is active in season. In 2000 the lighthouse was endangered, leaning and in need of restoration. Some repairs were made early in 2001. Located on a reef in Lake Cobbosseecontee about a mile south of island Park in Manchester. Site and tower are closed. Site manager: Cobbosseecontee Yacht Club.
We’ve now seen and photographed all of Maine lights except Matinicus Rock and Mount Desert Rock. Both are quite far out to sea and it was suggested by one flight operator that we should find a plane with pontoons to take us to them. Anybody out there looking to have company on a flight? Let me know–I’ll be happy to pay the fuel costs if it doesn’t mean mortgaging the house.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the trip. Now it’s back to battening down the hatches and getting ready for winter. . . .
