The Ram Island Ledges are a series of stone ledges, some of which break the waters at the southern end of Casco Bay, a short way south of Cushing Island. In 1855 an iron spindle was erected to protect sailors from these dangerous underwater ledges. The ledge continued to be the site of repeated shipwrecks. On February 24, 1900, the Allan Line steamship Californian (formerly named the State of California) ran aground on the ledge while en route from Portland to Glasgow, Scotland via Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a result of that accident, the United States Congress appropriated funds to build a lighthouse.
Construction began on May 1, 1903, and was completed in 1905. It is a twin of the Graves Light off Boston. The lighthouse was built of granitequarried from Vinalhaven, Maine. The lighthouse originally included a third-order Fresnel lens. The lighthouse was electrified in 1958, and then automated in 1959. The light was converted to solar power in January 2001. The Ram Island Ledge Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Ram Island Ledge Light Station on March 14, 1988, reference number 88000157.[3]
In July 2010, Ram Island Ledge Light was put up for sale to the general public. The minimum bid was $10,000.[4] The property had initially been made available at no charge to other government agencies, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations, but no interest was shown, so bids were opened to the general public. The winning bid, $190,000, came from Jeffrey Florman, a surgeon and resident of Windham, Maine.[5]
