BRUNSWICK — Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s fourth presentation in its 16th annual Winter Speaker Series will be Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. at Cram Alumni House, Bowdoin College.

The program, “Lighthouses of the Kennebec,” features lighthouse historian and University of Maine at Augusta Senior College instructor Duane Prugh with a special appearance by painter, photographer, writer and former lighthouse keeper Ernest DeRaps.

The presentation follows the annual meeting/potluck supper beginning at 6 p.m. The public is invited to the supper and brief business meeting as well.

Prugh graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in electrical engineering. He is now a semi-retired computer consultant. He loves the outdoors and for many years has been interested in the technical aspects of Maine’s lighthouses, covered bridges and waterfalls, a news release said. Prugh loves to share with others lighthouse and bridge histories; how they were built, what materials were used, and how these sentinels of the past have stood for 100 years or more.

For the past 12 years he has been an instructor at UMA Senior College, taking local seniors on field trips to explore dozens of these sites. Prugh has embarked on a multiyear project, which will involve visiting, photographing and learning all about these sites, giving talks on these subjects and presenting them on his website. It is currently a work-in-progress, as there are 68 lighthouses, 12 covered bridges, and over 300 named waterfalls in Maine.

Special guest DeRaps is a photographer, painter, author and former lighthouse keeper having kept the light on Monhegan, Vinalhaven and in Stockton Springs when in the Coast Guard.

The FOMB Winter Speaker Series takes place monthly from October-May on the second

Wednesday of the month. The series is free and open to the public.

For more information, call Ed Friedman at 666-3372, email edfomb@comcast.net or visit www.friendsofmerrymeetingbay.org.