Staff Writer

One five-minute ride on a small boat was all it took to transport three children from bustling Kennebunkport to desolate Goat Island.

For one week in July and another in August, children are invited to explore the island only three-quarters of a mile off Cape Porpoise Pier.

The trips are part of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust’s Discovery Days, which takes children off the beaten path during summer to explore the town’s history and teach children about nature right outside in their own back yards.

Monday’s trip provided Trevor Fecko, 6, and Sydney Brown, 7, their first trip to Goat Island.

Brown’s older brother, Lucas Brown, 9, enjoyed the trip so much last year he was back for a second and helped answer questions from lighthouse keeper Scott Dombrowski and his wife, Karen. Also along for the tour were Fecko’s grandfather Bob Loiselle and the Brown’s father, Ricky.

The Dombrowskis have kept watch over the lighthouse for 19 years, Karen Dombrowski said, and have lived on the island for the last seven summers.

Lucas Brown explained to the other children that a lighthouse is used to guide ships in fog. Scott Dombrowski said that was the main function, but a lighthouse can also be used to tell ships where they are.

“The light flashes once every six seconds, when you see the light flashing every six seconds you look at a chart. No two light houses flash the same,” Scott Dombrowski said

By figuring out where it is in relation to a specific lighthouse, a ship’s crew can use sea charts to determine the depth of water around it.

Even with modern technology, the ocean can still be dangerous. The previous lighthouse keeper, Richard E. Curtis, died in 2002 after his boat capsized near the island during a storm.

Last summer Scott Dombrowski helped save a boat from being stuck in sharp ledges between Goat Island and the mainland, although he said the most common accidents occur with kayakers.

“We still help save people,” Scott Dombrowski said.

During the trip, the children learned the history of the island and lighthouse, now owned by the trust.

Scott Dombrowski showed the children the old boat house, where an antiquated machine that helped pull boats from the water is displayed, and the oil house, where fuel was kept to keep the beacon lit. In 1990, Goat Island became the last lighthouse to become automated, but in the same year was the first in Maine to have an LED light and solar panel installed.

“It’s like living on a farm out here, you’re always pushing, pulling hauling and fixing something,” Scott Dombrowski said.

While the original lighthouse and keeper’s house established in 1833 no longer exist – they were rebuilt in 1859 – the island will see some improvements expected to recapture how the island looked 60 years ago.

Scott Dombrowski said when he took over, he had to pick an era in which to model renovations to the buildings on the island.  

He chose the 1950s and will soon begin building a true fog bell, which was used to warn sailors they were approaching an island.

The renovations will be paid by local donations and the occasional grant, such as the one used to build the dock.

“Basically we’re blessed to have really good local support,” Scott Dombrowski said.

So far, the one improvement made is a new dock, which unfortunately fell apart Sunday evening after some rogue waves knocked off the first two sections.

He also will build a new covered walkway from the keeper’s house to the lighthouse. The island had a covered walkway until 1978, but a large storm knocked it down.

Scott Dombrowski said the lighthouse keeper at the time, Marty Cain, now an Arundel planning board member, had just walked into the house when the wave crashed and washed it away.

In the last few decades the lighthouse has seen other interesting residents, including the Secret Service, which gutted the keepers house during George H.W. Bush’s presidency. The island has a good view of the Bush compound.

And there may be another new keeper before too long.

“I want to live here,” Fecko said to his grandfather while picking up sea glass and broken buoys at the end of the tour, when the children were given time to look for seashells and arrowheads from Indians who lived on the island long ago.

Sydney Brown does not agree that living on the island would be fun.

“Yeah, I was scared,” she said of being inside the lighthouse.

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.