Curtis Island Lighthouse

Curtis Island Light (+44° 12' 6.00", -69° 2' 54.00") is located at the entrance to Camden Harbor, at the southeastern end of Curtis Island. It is an active U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation and is now owned by the Town of Camden. Its characteristic is occulting green, 4 seconds (4 seconds of green followed by 1 second of darkness). The lighthouse is a 25-foot tall, white, cylindrical brick tower with a range of 6 nautical miles. The station does not have a fog signal. The first brick lighthouse on Curtis Island was built in 1835 by George Galt of Massachusetts, by order of President Andrew Jackson. It cost $4,500. Back then, the five-acre island was called Negro Island, presumably after an African cook who lived there. The island was renamed “Curtis Island” in 1934, in honor of Cyrus H.K. Curtis, publisher of the Saturday Evening Post. Curtis was a longtime summer resident of Camden, and gave the town the land and building that is now the Camden Yacht Club. Curtis Island LightThe first keeper was Henry K.M. Bower and many keepers have succeeded him. A fog bell in the public parking lot of Camden Harbor reads, “Dedicated to the keepers of the Curtis Island Light, 1836 to the present.”.