Camden Foundation Seeks to Restore Historic Curtis Island After Storm Damage

by Freyja Grey

Jul 1, 2024 Updated Jul 1, 2024

Photo by Freyja Grey

Acting as a natural breakwater to Camden Harbor, Curtis Island has been an important coastal fixture to sailors for hundreds of years. Now, the island’s lighthouse, keeper’s house and other historic structures on the island need substantial restoration, according to the Curtis Island Lighthouse Foundation.

From the Revolutionary War era until 1934, Curtis Island was known as Negro Island due to it being the residence of a Black sailor who spent years living with the Penobscot tribal nation. The man’s name is lost to history, but accounts by a tribal member as told to N.C. Fletcher say the Black man resided on the island for many years, first seasonally then eventually year-round. It was renamed Curtis Island in 1934, after publisher and Camden benefactor Cyrus H. K. Curtis.