Description:

One of several picturesque lighthouses on the Kennebec River, Squirrel Point Light, requires a hike of about a mile through meadows, salt marshes, and forests, ending in a beautiful river view. The lighthouse was built in 1895 to provide guidance for the many ships moving along the Kennebec to and from Bath, a major ship-building center since colonial times. The lighthouse is sited on a grassy meadow and provides beautiful views up and down the river, and across to a picture-perfect New England village. The white clapboard church in the village is the Phippsburg Congregational Church, built in the early 18th century. While the lighthouse and keeper’s house are not normally open to the public, the grounds provide room to roam or even have a picnic. The other building on the site is the brick oil house, providing fuel for the lighthouse in the years before electricity.

To reach the lighthouse follow Maine Route 127 south from highway 1 (turn right at the Dairy Queen, just northeast of the Kennebec River Bridge) for 4 1/2 miles. Turn right onto Bald Head Road.  Follow it for 3 1/4 miles.  There is parking at the end of this gravel road. Follow the trail with blue blazes. At a fork in the road with a sign bear right (the blue blazed trail continues to the left to Bald Head). Just after a wooden bridge, follow the sign to the left at the fork.  After a walk through the forest, the river and lighthouse appear.