Franklin Island Light stands on Franklin Island in Muscongus Bay along the Maine coast, marking an offshore island in waters long used for maritime traffic and fishing. First established in 1805, it was among the early navigational aids created on the Maine coast in the young United States. The present structure dates from 1855, representing a rebuilding rather than the original light. Its importance rests in that continuity of service as an early nineteenth-century light station renewed in the mid-nineteenth century, helping guide vessels through the bay and remaining part of Maine’s historic network of lighthouses along a rugged shoreline.