Light Hearted Live #5: Chris Hall and Tip Koehler, Seguin Island, ME

This is the audio from a live streaming episode on June 3, 2026.

Seguin Light Station, photo by Jeremy D’Entremont

Seguin Island Light Station is about two and a half miles off of the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine. The establishment of a light station on Seguin was approved by president George Washington in 1793, and the buildings were completed in 1796. The 53-foot stone tower that still stands was constructed in 1857 along with a duplex keepers’ house. A new first-order Fresnel lens was installed, and that lens remains in operation today.

The light was automated in 1985 and the keepers were removed. Concerned local citizens  founded the Friends of Seguin Island Light Station in 1986. In February 1998, under the Maine Lights Program, ownership of the property was transferred to the group. There are two guests in the episode. Chris Hall was the registrar and curator of exhibits at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath and he’s now the historian for FOSILS. Tip Koehler is a retired Naval architect with 41 years in naval combatant design, manufacturing, and testing on Bath built ships. and is the vice president of the Friends of Seguin Island Light Station.

Here is the live stream: