Seguin is an impressive high plateau located 2.5 miles off the mouth of the Kennebec River, crowned with a lighthouse built in the late 1700s under the rule of George Washington. Seguin is a great lunch stop. There are often moorings available, and it's fun to go ashore and see the long tramway used for for bringing supplies from sea level up to the lighthouse during the era when it was manned. The Fresnel lens is the only first order Fresnel lens still operating north of Cape Hatteras; it's an amazing piece of craftsmanship. Now, as almost all lighthouses along the coast, Seguin is automated. It was purchased in 1986 by a nonprofit called the Friends of Seguin, dedicated to protecting and preserving this historic and scenic piece of Maine's maritime history.
Hiking to the top of this oceanic butte is like wandering through a dreamland of blackberry and bayberry bushes, ferns, and Rosa rugosa. The views from the top on a clear day are incredible. You can see as far as Mt Washington to the west and Mt Desert to the east. This is not a good place to spend the night due to the strong currents and rough waters that can quickly build in the area from the outflow of the two large rivers and the strength of the tidal currents. It's not unusual to stumble on a bumpy passage across the mouths of the Kennebec and Sheepscot. The name Seguin comes from the Native American word "sutquin" meaning, appropriately, "the place where the sea vomits."
