In 1791, when the population of Camden reached 331, residents decided to incorporate and set up a government, becoming the seventy-second town in Maine. With the increasing population came a thriving shipyard and a wharf for the steamships puffing their way between Boston and Bangor. Camden Harbor, considered by many to be the most beautiful spot in Maine, is protected by tiny Curtis Island. When gales blow, waves lash the island, but its ledges act as a breakwater built by Mother Nature to keep the harbor safe.

Original Curtis Lighthouse and dwelling Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

In 1834, Congress appropriated $4,500 “for building a lighthouse on a proper site on Negro Island.” The lighthouse was completed by George Galt in 1836, on land purchased from John Dorr of Boston for $400. The first keeper was H.K.M. Bowers.

Galt built a rubblestone tower, which measured twenty feet to its lantern deck, and a two-story dwelling that contained three rooms on the first floor and three smaller rooms upstairs. The lighthouse used eight oil lamps with fourteen-inch reflectors, which cost $650, to produce a fixed white light. To supplement his income, Keeper Bowers kept a garden and animals, including cows, ducks, and chickens, at the station. He was also allowed to cut trees for firewood.

The Boston-Bangor Steamships used Negro Island as a signal station for a number of years. The lighthouse keeper would raise a ball on a pole near the tower to indicate that a ship from one direction or the other was on its way. As villagers noted the ball, a cry could be heard throughout Camden, “The ball is up!”, and all with an interest in the ship’s arrival would start out for the wharf. Also tied to the steamships was a summertime “sport.” Those who wanted to prove their oarsmanship would place their rowboats in line with the wake from the great vessels to test their skills.

Negro Island Lighthouse was found to be “in very good order” when Lt. Thomas Manning came for an inspection in 1838. However, when engineer I.W.P. Lewis visited in 1842, he found that the tower had been cracked from top to bottom by a recent storm. Although the octagonal lantern had been repaired, the tower itself still leaked. As a stopgap measure, the tower was sheathed in wood and shingled in 1855.

Ephraim S. Fly, keeper from 1841-1845, was very unhappy with the station’s useless rainwater cisterns that forced him to row ashore for water and construct a landing wharf on the island using $25 of his own money. Obadiah Brown followed as keeper in 1845, Captain William Prince in 1849, and then came Ebenezer M. Carlton, who resigned in 1855 after two years at the light. Obadiah Brown was reappointed in 1855, and following his death in 1857, a newspaper reported, “Mr. Brown in building wall upon the island injured his stomach which resulted in his death.” Brown was said to be “universally respected.” He was succeeded by Andrew M. Annis.

In 1856, the lighthouse received a “new and improved reflecting apparatus … designed to serve until suitable lens apparatus [could] be procured for a final refitment.” A fourth-order Fresnel lens was subsequently installed. During 1867-1868, the keeper’s house was extensively repaired and a woodshed was added. Storm-houses were constructed over the front and back doors of the dwelling; a new cast-iron sink, pump, and pipe were put in; and the privy was moved to the rear of the dwelling and a plank walk laid to it. A fifty-foot-long covered walkway, linking the residence and tower, was added in 1876.

In 1889, while Henry Wiley was keeper, “the dilapidated old dwelling, built of rubble masonry in 1835, was replaced by a framed house on the same foundation. A new barn, a boat-house, and a boat-slip were built.” A local newspaper wrote that the house “is in a modern and pleasing style of architecture and very convenient. It contains six large, airy, well lighted rooms, beside numerous closets, halls &c. Every floor in the house is of hard pine and the whole house is built in the most thorough manner and of the best materials.”

An oil house was added to the station in 1894, and next it was time for a new tower. On May 11, 1896, the lantern from the rubblestone tower was mounted on a temporary tower, forty feet to the east, and the old lighthouse was subsequently demolished to make room for its successor. On July 30, the new cylindrical brick tower, twenty-five-feet in height, was completed, and with the paint still drying, its light was lit. Henry Wiley was still serving as keeper, but passed away the following September, just two days after a 1,000-lb. fog bell and materials for a bell tower arrived on the island. From 1882, until this new bell was established, keepers had to repeatedly strike a small bell by hand during foggy weather. In 1901, “a brick cistern was built in the dwelling.”

The island’s close proximity to Camden made it a choice station for keepers, many of whom stayed on for long stints, such as Henry Wiley (1882-1896), Howard M. Gilley (1896-1909), Aldiverd A. Norton (1909-1919), and Elmer Reed (1919-1938). Myrick Morrison (1938-1950) was said to have treated the six U.S. Coast Guardsmen, who were stationed on the island during World War II, like sons.

In 1970, Camden residents convinced the Coast Guard that the light station should be turned over to the town rather than being auctioned to a private individual. The town took responsibility for the island and all its buildings save the tower, designated Curtis Island a park, and later hired a caretaker to look after the station. In a vote of 1358 for and 137 against, the town of Camden agreed to accept ownership of the tower on Curtis Island in November, 1997 under the Maine Lights Program.

On Memorial Day weekend 2000, a fog bell, on long-term loan from the US Coast Guard, was dedicated to the men and women who had served at Curtis Island Light from 1836 to the present. As the fog bell had not been used on Curtis Island, some thought it should be returned to the Coast Guard. Determined volunteers pushed the project through, and the public can now visit the memorial near the public parking lot at Camden Harbor.

From 1980 to 2010, Garrett Elliott “Connie” Conover, Jr. served as caretaker on Curtis Island. Despite his failing health, he planned a community volunteer project to scrape, prime and repaint the keeper’s house. After seeing the project through, Connie passed away in 2010 at the age of eighty-one.

Curtis Island Lighthouse, one of the most picturesque stations in Maine, is difficult to see from shore. The best views come from excursions and schooners out of Camden Harbor.

Photo Gallery: 1 2 3 4

References

1. The Lighthouses of Massachusetts, Jeremy D'Entremont, 2007.
2. Annual Report of the Light House Board, various years.
3. Maine Lighthouses: Documentation of Their Past, J. Candace Clifford and Mary Louise Clifford, 2005.
4. “Maine Lighthouse Named After Publishing Leader,” Lighthouse Digest, Timothy Harrison, August 2005.
5. “Curtis Island Lighthouse Memorial Dedicated,” Lighthouse Digest, July 2000.
6. “First of Maine Lighthouse Transfers Approved,” Lighthouse Digest, February 1998.
7. Sketches of the History of the Town of Camden, Maine: including Incidental References to the Neighboring Places and Adjacent Waters, John Lymburner Locke, 1858.
8. Remembering Camden: Stories from an Old Maine Harbor, Barber F. Dyer, 2008.
9. “Legendary Curtis Island Light Station Keeper Passes Away,” Moments in Maine by Storm Heroes blog, Bob Trapani, Jr., October 20, 2010.