It was rebuilt in 1820 and in 1857, when the first Fresnel lens was installed in the lantern of a Maine lighthouse tower. Twelve men from the Coast Guard were stationed on the island to care for the light during World War II, and the number dropped to three until the light was automated in 1986. Now summer caretakers keep watch here, maintaining the tower and the small house beside it and showing tourists around one of the foggiest locations in the state. While you're here, don't forget to check out the massive conveyor belt used to transport goods from the boat dock at the bottom of the island to the top. The lighthouse is about 2 miles out from Reid State Park, and from the beach on a clear day it can be viewed as a pencil sticking out on the horizon.
Tours are free.
The only way to get to the island is by boat, and the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath sometimes offers excursions here. Ram Island Light Maine Hwy. 238, Boothbay Harbor Tradition has it that before this lighthouse was built, area fishermen rowed out to the island each night to light a dimly flickering lantern to keep area fishermen from wrecking their boats on the jagged reefs below. A number of near catastrophes, including shipwrecks in which villagers risked their own lives to save others who ran aground on the island, finally led to the construction of this lighthouse in 1883. Visible from shore, the gray stone tower stands on a small outcrop of rock and is joined to Ram Island by a walkway.