Keeping Atlantic Ocean Barrier Islands Safe

     _By Tiffany Amber Stockton

From lighthouse keepers to childhood stories, here's a look at the Assateague Lighthouse through the lens of history and coastal life.

A Look Beyond the Lighthouse

When I was a little girl, my parents would take us down to Chincoteague to visit Pop-Pop who owned a barbershop on the island. Sitting in his apartment above the shop, perched on his knees alongside my older brother, I learned early that history and imagination often shared the same chair.

Pop-Pop was a master storyteller. The ocean was always involved, and so were the many storms. Somehow, in every single tale, he was the hero who came to rescue us. Looking back now, he wouldn't have had it any other way.

We’d build the stories together—layer by layer—until they became grand adventures. In one of my favorites, we were lost at sea in a small boat, waves crashing around us, when Pop-Pop appeared as the lighthouse keeper, high above the water, making sure the light shone bright enough to guide us safely home.

And that was my first introduction to the famous lighthouse on the barrier island across the inlet.

The Assateague Lighthouse has stood watch since 1833, built to guide ships past the dangerous shoals off the Virginia coast, after shipwrecks piled up along the coastline. Located halfway between the Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay, its red-and-white bands are unmistakable, and you can see them today from many parts of Chincoteague. Now, it's a place people climb for the view, but at one time, it was a place where people lived and a beacon that saved lives.

One of those people was David Watson, the lighthouse’s first keeper. Watson and his family moved into the lighthouse and the attached home shortly after construction completed. At that time, the lighthouse consisted solely of red brick. Every evening, the eleven oil lamps set in fourteen-inch reflectors had to be lit. Every morning, they had to be extinguished, cleaned, and prepared again. Weather didn’t matter. Illness didn’t matter. Those lights could not fail.

Keeper logs and service records tell us the facts of the lighthouse—dates, duties, years of service—but they leave out the quieter truths. Watson's wife lived that life alongside him. Lighthouse wives often acted as unofficial assistants, managing households in isolation, raising children far from neighbors, and stepping in when their husbands were sick or away. Other than a small village to the northeast, the keepers remained quite isolated.

I imagine evenings after the lights were set, the tower humming faintly with wind. Children asleep. A simple meal shared. Conversations about storms, supplies, or the long stretch of winter ahead. The bridge connecting Assateague to Chincoteague wasn't built until 1962. That's a lot of years to live so cut off from everyday life with friends and other people.

The lighthouse remained active until 1933, when it was decommissioned and replaced by automated aids powered by electricity. When I look at it now, I don’t just see brick and iron. I see my grandfather’s stories. I see keeper families like the Watsons, living ordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances. I see a steady light meant to guide others home.

Maybe that’s why Pop-Pop chose that role for himself in our make-believe adventures. Because a lighthouse keeper doesn’t conquer the sea. He simply stays where he’s supposed to be, doing his job, night after night, so others can find their way.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* How do you think lighthouse life shaped marriages and families compared to mainland communities?

* What details of everyday life do you wish historical records preserved more often?

* Are there stories from your childhood where imagination and family history blended together?

Leave answers to these questions or any comments on the post below.

** This note is for our email readers. Please do not reply via email with any comments. View the blog online and scroll down to the comments section.

Come back on the 9th of each month for my next foray into historical tidbits to share.

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BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has embellished stories since childhood, thanks to a very active imagination and notations of talking entirely too much. Honing those skills led her to careers as an award-winning and best-selling author and speaker, while also working as a professional copywriter/copyeditor. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help them get rooted in truth and live a life of purpose.

Currently, she lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children, two dogs, and five cats in southeastern Kentucky. In her 20+ years as a professional writer, she has sold twenty-six (26) books so far and has agent representation with Tamela Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

The Lighthouse Keeper Who Came Back from the Dead

Race Rock Lighthouse, NY,
Photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com

By Marilyn Turk

Off the eastern end of Long Island Sound, you’ll find Fishers, Little Gull, Great Gull, and Plum–a string of islands. Many ships pass between the islands, but the deepest gap, called “The Race,” is just off the end of Fisher Island near a reef called Race Rock. The dangerous current that flows through the gap has been the doom of many vessels, especially before 1871, when the lighthouse built on the reef became active.

A stag station (men only), the lighthouse housed one keeper and two assistant keepers. The families of the married keepers lived on the mainland, and were visited when a keeper had leave to go home. Located eight miles off the coast from New Haven, Connecticut, going to and from the lighthouse was sometimes difficult for the keepers, depending on the tide. Waves can run in two directions where the water at the mouth of the Race meets the water of Fisher’s Island Sound. In bad weather, these waves can be quite large.

In April 1892, the new head keeper at Race Rock, twenty-four-year-old Christopher Culver, ran into those huge waves. After a brief shore leave to visit his family in New London, Culver set out to return to the lighthouse in a twelve-foot rowboat with a sail. Captain R.M. Jerome, a retired sea captain, watched Culver as he made his way out to the lighthouse. When Capt. Jerome saw Culver’s sail go down in the rough seas, he reported that the boat had capsized.

The ensuing search showed no trace of the keeper, and the newspaper reported his drowning.

In reality, Keeper Culver had abandoned his attempt to reach the lighthouse, lowered his sail, and rowed instead to Great Hay Harbor on Fishers Island where he found food and shelter at Mr. Oakley’s farm. Two days later, the keeper arrived back in New London aboard a steamship, and was reunited with his relieved and jubilant family.

At his sixty-ninth wedding anniversary, Culver recalled his premature death notice published sixty-four years before, thankful for the life he’d had since his “death.”

Keeper Culver didn't really die, he was just misplaced. 

At Easter, we celebrate the real resurrection of Jesus Christ, who really did die and really did come back from the dead, defeating death and sin simultaneously. We therefore have even more reason to be thankful for the life Christ has given us now and forever. 

Marilyn Turk

Historical fiction flavored with suspense and romance

 Marilyn Turk’s roots are in the coastal South. Calling herself a “literary archaeologist,” she loves to discover stories hidden in history. She is the author of two World War II novels, and the Coastal Lights Legacy series set in 1800s Florida—Rebel Light, Revealing Light, Redeeming Light, and Rekindled Light—featuring lighthouse settings. Marilyn’s novella, The Wrong Survivor, is in the Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides collection. She also writes for the Daily Guideposts Devotions book.

She lives in Florida, with her husband, 9-year-old grandson, and a 17-year-old cat. When not writing, Marilyn can be found playing tennis, gardening, walking, fishing, or kayaking. She and her husband have visited over 100 lighthouses so far, but the RV is ready to travel to go see more.

Website: @http://pathwayheart.com

Email: marilynturkwriter@yahoo.com

The Castle on the Straits: Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse & a Giveaway!

My love for the lighthouse at Old Mackinac Point came long before I needed to research it for my novella, The Last Memory, in The Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides Collection. Around 1996 we started visiting the area each summer and renting a cottage almost 20 miles west of Mackinaw City. Around that time, efforts started being made to raise the more than two million dollars needed to restore this beacon on the Lake Huron side of Straits of Mackinac. One of the people who spearheaded this effort was actually the great-grandson of the man who built the lighthouse, John P. Schmitt.

In 2004, the beautiful buff-colored brick building reopened as a work-in-progress. First came the exhibits and eventually several rooms on the first floor of the lightkeeper's quarters were restored to the 1910 period. The kitchen was fitted with a cast iron stove, and an oak table and chairs in the cozy corner. The sitting room contains period furniture and a Victrola. And the dining room looks ready for guests. The exhibits include Fresnel lenses, former uniforms, and many facts about the area. Now docents dressed in costumes of the represented era give tours and answer questions. The men look official in their Lighthouse Service uniforms and the women are elegant in their long skirts and shirtwaists.

Beginning in the late 17th century, the French had built a mission and fort in St. Ignace. They later abandoned it for the south side of the straits at Old Mackinac Point where they built Fort Michilimackinac. It was an outpost of fur trade and defense, visited by voyageurs and military alike. In 1761 the British took over after the French and Indian War. Concerned about vulnerability, the old fort was abandoned, burned, and rebuilt on Mackinac Island, considered a stronger vantage point.

Though the fort was buried in the sands, a town eventually arose in the area. As it was planned, in the mid-1800s, land was allotted for “Old Fort Park,” and some was preserved for the site of a future lighthouse. By then, lights had been established on Lake Michigan on the west side of the straits at Waugoshance Point and at Bois Blanc Island on Lake Huron on the west. The Straits of Mackinac could be treacherous with its shoals, reefs, and abundance of small islands, not to mention ice. It was a critical point for the passage of many ships heading west through the Great Lakes to the burgeoning ports of Milwaukee and Chicago. And Mackinac Island was becoming a tourist destination. The straits were a busy place of passage. In 1869, McGulpin Point Lighthouse was established west of Old Mackinac Point and several others were built in the years ahead. 

Eventually, the need for a more visible lighthouse on the Straits of Mackinac was established by the United States Lighthouse Board, since the McGulpin Point location was obscured by Old Mackinac Point. A lighthouse in Mackinaw City, though at a lower elevation would actually be visible to vessels coming from either direction.
 
First, $5,500 was provided for a fog signal on the approved site and was operational by 1890. Next, $20,000 was approved for the construction of the actual lighthouse which began in 1892 with a view to decommissioning the McGulpin Lighthouse as there was no need for both, but it remained open until 1906. 

Two homes were constructed under one roof, one for the head lighthouse keeper and the other for the assistant. One side had both a parlor and a sitting room, a kitchen, and dining room. Both apartments had three bedrooms upstairs. The dwellings were joined by a lobby and a service area, from where the tower could be accessed by either the light keeper or assistant light keeper. 

The castle style building was constructed on an Indiana limestone base and walls of Cream City brick. These buff yellow-gold bricks were made from clay dug up from near the city of Milwaukee. A fourth-order Fresnel lens was installed in the tower and became operational on October 25, 1892. Also on the property, stood the fog signal building, a small storage barn, and an oil house.

The rotating Fresnel lens glowed red until 1913, when the signal color was changed to white. At the time of my story, in 1899, the flame glowed from kerosene. Mechanical weights which needed to be wound, powered the turning action.

George Marshall, a Civil War veteran, became head lighthouse keeper in 1892. His four brothers had also entered the Lighthouse Service. He and his wife, Margaret, didn’t have children by birth, but had two adopted sons. One of them, his nephew Chester, went on to become a keeper at the Manitowac Lighthouse for over three decades. Chester’s father had been the assistant keeper at Mackinac Point from 1900-02, until ill health overtook him. George’s older son, James, took over for George when he retired in 1919. James lived there with his wife, Frances, and their three children, George, James, and Madonna. During his tenure electricity and a radio beacon were added to the lighthouse. He was the head lighthouse keeper until he had a stroke in 1940.
 
For nearly 50 years, a Marshall had manned the lighthouse. For the next ten years, Henrik Olsen took over the head lightkeeper’s duties. The last one to have the post was John P. Campbell from 1951-57. In addition, there were several assistant light keepers and even second assistants to bear the brunt of the workload at the castle on the straits. Once the Mackinac Bridge was completed, there was no longer a need for a lighthouse on Old Mackinac Point.

The Mackinac Island State Park Commission acquired the decommissioned lighthouse in 1960. It was open to the public from 1972 until 1990 and closed due to lack of funds to properly maintain and restore the building, along with falling attendance. Still, the building stood, attesting to a bygone era and the people who worked hard to keep the Straits of Mackinac safe.

An effort to raise over two million dollars to restore the lighthouse and re-open it began in 1996. One of the people who spearheaded the effort was actually the great-grandson of the man who built the lighthouse! In 2004, the lighthouse opened again with a modest museum area and a gift shop (going by memory here). Each year we visited the Mackinaw City area, I would implore my husband to stop so we could again visit the exhibit and watch the gradual restoration to the 1910 era

To absorb the ambiance of the life of a Gilded Age lighthouse keeper to learn more about the importance of this crucial waterway on the Great Lakes, or climb the stairs to the tower for a spectacular view, visiting the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse is the place to be! Here is more information for those interested in visiting this beautifully restored and maintained historical exhibit: https://www.mackinacparks.com/parks-and-attractions/old-mackinac-point-lighthouse/

Lighthouses are full of history, romance, and mystery. What lighthouse would you like to visit?

Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of The Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides Collection, with my story The Last Memory and six other great stories! One paperback will be given to a randomly chosen winner. Enter before 6 p.m., Sunday, November 26, 2018

Along the Great Lakes, America’s inland seas, lighthouses played a vital role in the growth of the nation. They shepherded settlers traveling by water to places that had no roads. These beacons of light required constant tending even in remote and often dangerous places. Brave men and women battled the elements and loneliness to keep the lights shining. Their sacrifice kept goods and immigrants moving. Seven romances set between 1883 and 1911 bring hope to these lonely keepers and love to weary hearts.

The Last Memory

1899—Mackinac Point Lighthouse
Natalie Brooks loses her past to amnesia, and Cal Waterson, the lighthouse keeper who rescues her, didn’t bargain on risking his heart—when her past might change everything.

Kathleen Rouser is the multi-published author of the 2017 Bookvana Award winner, Rumors and Promises, her first novel about the people of fictional Stone Creek, Michigan, and its sequel, Secrets and Wishes. She is a longtime member in good standing of American Christian Fiction Writers. Kathleen wanted to be a writer before she could even read. She longs to create characters who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives. She lives in Michigan with her hero and husband of thirty-some years, and the sassy tail-less cat who found a home in their empty nest. Connect with Kathleen on her website at kathleenrouser.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kathleenerouser/, and on Twitter @KathleenRouser.

Find her at:

Website: kathleenrouser.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kerouser

Facebook Author Page:https://www.facebook.com/kathleenerouser/

Twitter: @KathleenRouser

Pinterest: https:/ /www.pinterest.com/kerouser/

McGulpin Point Lighthouse - A Beacon for the Straits of Mackinac

When John McAlpine, a British soldier who served at Fort Michilimackinac, retired from his military career in 1774, he was allotted 640 acres of land a couple of miles west of the fort along the Straits of Mackinac. This land passed onto his son, Patrick, in 1802 who Anglicized the name to McGulpin, but was officially deeded to him in 1811. His son, George, and his Native-American wife settled there. The area became known as McGulpin Point.

In 1851, the Waugoshance Lighthouse guarded the western entrance to the straits in Lake Michigan and the Bois Blanc Island Lighthouse guarded the east, in Lake Huron, but there was nothing central. Traffic had steadily increased since the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. In the mid-1850s, the Lighthouse Board wrote of the necessity for a lighthouse at the narrowest point of the straits. 

McGulpin Point Lighthouse, probably circa 1930s (Notice the
cap of the light tower has been removed.) {PD} http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHMI.asp

Congress appropriated funds for the lighthouse to be built, but until a clear title could be obtained for the land construction was delayed. The appropriations expired and Congress was once again petitioned for funds in 1864. Funds were appropriated a second time, this time for $20,000. The light station was constructed in what many describe as a Norman-Gothic style in Cream City brick. It opened for service in 1869.

The lighthouse keeper’s quarters were contained in a 1 1/2 story house connected to the light tower. The floor plan included a parlor, kitchen and two bedrooms on the main floor. Two bedrooms spanned the upper half story with the addition of a large closet. The tower was set diagonally at one corner and the light at the top consisted of a Third-and-a-half Order Fresnel lens which shone steadily. The same design was used for building several other Great Lakes lighthouses.

The head keepers throughout the years of McGulpin Point’s service were as follows: Charles Louisingnau, 1869-1875; Thomas P. Dunn, 1875-1879; Gabrieal Bourissau, 1879; and James Davenport, 1879-1906. 

Davenport, who notably served last and longest is probably the best-remembered keeper. He faithfully sent weekly reports of the conditions of the Straits of Mackinac, to the District Inspector in Milwaukee. Although he moved his family to town in Mackinaw City during the off-season, so his children could more easily attend school, Davenport trudged through harsh snowy weather in the winter to check conditions on the iced-over straits and make his report each week. 

Exemplary in his dependability, Davenport only missed one week in March of 1891. His only reason was recorded in these sad words: “Sir, I just was up in the Lt House and found all in good order. You will see by this report that I did not report to you last week. My wife and child died last week and I could not go up to the light house to report to you as required.”

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse is also an example of "Cream City"
brick, a cream or light yellow-colored brick made from
clay dug from nearby the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
James Marvin Phelps, 2006, [CC]

One of the more memorable events during Davenport’s tenure was when the 

captain of the Waldo A. Avery steered his burning ship towards shore near the McGulpin Point Lighthouse in 1893. At the time, Davenport had gone into Mackinaw City, leaving his nine children behind. They must have learned much as children of the keeper since they made preparations on their own to care for the survivors!

When apprised of what was going on at the lighthouse, Davenport rushed back with several Mackinaw City residents in tow. They were able to get out to the beached vessel in a small skiff and make several trips to bring all seventeen crew members safely ashore. 

Once the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and its fog signal had been constructed in 1892, and was more visible along the straits, the Lighthouse Board believed the McGulpin Point station was no longer needed. Still, the lighthouse was in service until November 12, 1906. The Fresnel lens was removed and temporarily stored at Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse.

James Davenport was transferred to Old Mission Point and remained there until his retirement in 1917. He then returned to Mackinaw City where he lived until his death at age 85 in 1932. 

In 1913, the lighthouse was auctioned off and became privately owned. It was being used as a private residence into the 21st century. In 2008, the Emmet County commissioners bought the old McGulpin Point Lighthouse. Since then it’s undergone much restoration. There are displays and a gift shop. You can climb the stairs of the restored tower to enter the new tower cap and see the replacement Fresnel lens and the beautiful view. And don’t forget to take the discovery trail down below where you can learn more about the history of the property.

McGulpin Point Lighthouse may no longer be a beacon guiding ships on the Straits of Mackinac, but it is a beacon of the past for history lovers. Have you ever thought what it would be like to live in a lighthouse? What is your favorite lighthouse? I’d love to know! Please share in the comments below.

The restored McGulpin Point Lighthouse, [CC],
Wikimedia Commons

Kathleen Rouser is the award-winning author of Rumors and Promises, her first novel about the people of fictional Stone Creek, Michigan, and its sequel, Secrets and Wishes. Kathleen wanted to be a writer before she could even read. She lives in Michigan with her hero and husband, Jack, and the sassy tailless cat who found a home in their empty nest. Connect with Kathleen on her website at kathleenrouser.com, on Twitter @KathleenRouser. and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kathleenerouser/.

Mind The Light, Kate

Robbins Reef Lighthouse with New York City and Statue of Liberty

By Marilyn Turk

When Kate Walker first arrived at Robbins Reef Light in 1883 with her Lighthouse Keeper husband John Walker, she threatened to leave him. She had never expected to live in a home surrounded by water. The lighthouse was the type often called a "sparkplug" style, due to its resemblance. It was built on a reef in the middle of a body of the channel leading to the New York City Harbor. Eventually, though, Kate got used to living in the lighthouse and became her husband's assistant keeper. She served in that capacity until John died three years later. His last words to her were, “Mind the light, Kate.”

Robbins Reef, 1917

Several men were offered the position John had vacated as keeper, but they refused, saying the location was too lonely. So Kate, the forty-year-old mother of two, applied for the position. Objections were raised against her appointment due to her petite size, assuming she was unable to handle a man’s job. At four-foot-ten and 100 pounds, the task seemed too large for a woman, not to mention, a tiny one.

It took four years and several men turning down the position before Kate received the appointment. But Kate's work ethic soon proved she was as good at the job as any man. Not only did she keep the light burning, she also rescued at least fifty people whose boats wrecked on the reef during storms. When fog rolled in, she went down into the basement to start the engine that sent out siren blasts. When the motor sometimes broke down, Kate climbed to the top of the tower to bang a huge bell.

Kate on the ladder to the first floor of the lighthouse.

Every day, Kate rowed her children to school, recorded the weather in the logbook, polished the brass, and cleaned the lens. At night, she wound up the weights multiple times to keep the fourth-order lens rotating, trimmed the wicks, refilled the oil reservoir, and in times of fog, she started up the engine in the basement to power the fog signal. As her son Jacob matured, he helped with the tasks and was made an official assistant keeper in 1896.

Kate was keeper of the light for thirty years, retiring at the age of 73. The U.S. Coast Guard commemorated her commitment to her position and diligence to the work by erecting a buoy in her honor and in 1996, a Coast Guard buoy tender bearing her name was launched.

Silencing her critics, Kate proved that despite her small size, she was more than capable of “minding the light.”

USCG Tender Katherine Walker

The Lifesaving Women of Saugerties *plus Giveaway!

Saugerties Lighthouse, NY, photo by Sonja K. Keohane

“Help! Help us!” The frantic voices of sailors were lost in the storm as they cried out after their ship overturned. Waves crashed over them as they clung to the sides of their vessel. Would someone at the lighthouse see them and come to their rescue?

Then they saw the boat, its two occupants rowing vigorously as they struggled against the wind and turbulent water toward the desperate men. Each time the boat crested a swell, it disappeared behind the next one as the sailors watched anxiously, wondering if that boat been lost, too.

But hope returned when the boat emerged from the waves, still headed their way. As the boat neared, one of their rescuers leaned across its bow and reached out to grab the closest sailor and pull him onboard as the other rescuer kept the boat under control. One by one, the men were rescued, thanks to the strength and determination of the people in the lighthouse boat.

Not until they were safe at the lighthouse did the men realize their rescuers were two young women, Katie and Ellen Crowley, daughters of Saugerties Lighthouse Keeper Dennis Crowley.

The following account of the incident, printed in an 1878 newspaper, was told by a river captain who witnessed the scene.

Saugerties Lighthouse, NY, USCG photo

The waves ran so high, the gale blew so madly, the thunder roared so incessantly, and the lightning flashed in such blinding sheets, that it seemed impossible for the women ever to reach the men, to keep headway, or to keep from being swamped. But they never missed the opportunity of a rising billow to give them leverage and they managed by steady pulling to get ahead until they reached the men in the water. The great danger was that the tossing boat would strike the sailors and end their career, but one of the girls leaned forward over the bow of the boat, braced her feet beneath the seat on which she had been sitting, stiffened herself out for a great effort, and as her sister kept the bow of the craft crosswise to the waves, caught one of the men beneath the arms as he struck out on top of a billow, lifted and threw him by main force into the middle of the boat, and then prepared for the other man.

Katie, the older sister, was known for her ability to handle a boat, as well as swim. As a result of her proficiency in the water, the rescue was only one of many for which she was credited.

She never boasted of her achievement and when pressed to comment on her heroic prowess she said, “We are simply two girls trying to do our duty here in this quiet place, taking care as best we can of our blind father and aged mother.” Her father had lost his sight due to cataracts shortly after he became the keeper of the light, becoming dependent on his children to handle most of the duties.

So proficient in her duties, Kate became the official keeper at Saugerties Lighthouse in 1873 at the age of 20.

By 1964, the lighthouse had been abandoned, left to deterioration and vandalism. The US Coast Guard planned to demolish the building. But another heroic woman stepped in to save it. Ruth Reynolds Glunt, wife of Chester Glunt, who was keeper at Saugerties for 28 years, fought to save the lighthouse from demolition. Largely due to her efforts, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Saugerties Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast, NY

Today, the lighthouse is a bed and breakfast, thanks to restoration by the Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy which purchased the property in 1986.

Two women – Kate Crowley and Ruth Glunt are known for their heroic efforts at Saugerties, but while one saved people, the other saved the lighthouse. Both were passionate about their missions, and as a result, other people have been blessed.

*Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for a copy of Rebel Light, the story of romance during the Civil War on the Gulf Coast of Florida and the lighthouse that played a key role in it.

Marilyn Turk loves to study history, especially that of lighthouses and the coast of the United States. She is the author of Rebel Light, a Civil War love story set on the coast of Florida, A Gilded Curse, a historical suspense novel set on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in 1942, and Lighthouse Devotions - 52 Inspiring Lighthouse Stories, based on her popular lighthouse blog. (@ http://pathwayheart.com)

Marilyn is also the director of The Christian Writers Retreat at Blue Lake March 22-25. If you live in the Gulf Coast area, take advantage of this local writers conference. See http://bluelakecwr.com/ for details and registration.

Christmas at the Needles

Needles Lighthouse, Isle of Wight, UK

By Marilyn Turk

Over the past five years, I've gained somewhat of a reputation as the "lighthouse lady," the one who blogs about lighthouses and puts them in her novels. I'm by no means an expert, but I do love lighthouses and love to research them. What I really love, though, is learning about the lighthouse keepers that took care of them 24/7, year after year. Very few lighthouses are still kept by humans since automation has taken over the lights, however, there are still a few people that used to be lighthouse keepers, and I've been especially privileged to get to know them.

One such lighthouse friend is Gordon Partridge, who was a  lighthouse keeper in the UK for twenty-two years (1974-1996). Gordon recently shared with me what Christmas was like when he was keeper at the Needles Lighthouse off the Isle of Wight. It is so special that I wanted to share it with you.

I was privileged to serve on Needles Lighthouse,one of England's best known and an icon of the Isle of Wight. My appointment lasted for just over six years during which time I was on duty for four Christmases, the memories of which have happily endured in my mind ever since.

The Lighthouse was "adopted" by the nearby Royal Lymington Yacht Club who generously,through their Clubhouse collection tub,raised much funding for "Lighthouse Comforts," amongst which were a stereo music centre,subscriptions to various publications,I.e. The quarterly, This England mag and others. Also on their list was to provide festive cheer for those on watch over Christmas, their kindness and generosity was overwhelming.

Usually, on the weekend before the actual Christmas, a fleet of RLYC craft, of all shapes and sizes, would sail down the Solent to the Lighthouse. Some 80 to 100 vessels would standoff and sing carols to us, weather permitting, the local Vicar would land and administer prayer to us. A senior member of the Club Committee would accompany him and deliver a sackful of cards and various cases of Christmas cheer, festive food, and often a bottle or two of the "hard stuff!"

I will never forget the atmosphere of song resonating across the water from the the assembled floating throng, who, for an hour or more, would offer a concert of favourite Christmas Carols and music which warmed our hearts with genuine Christmas love and peaceful wishes.

My heart is warmed whenever I think back, and I thank those people for their thoughtfulness and love from across the water.

We too should offer our greetings and welcome hands of friendship from across our waters.

That being so, I wish you and yours, a very Happy and Healthy Christmas. God Bless.

Gordon

Award-winning author Marilyn Turk lives in and writes about the coast – past and present. A multi-published author, she writes a lighthouse blog at http://marilynturk.com. Her latest release, Rebel Light, Book 1 in the Coastal Lights Legacy series, is now available, along with A Gilded Curse, and Lighthouse Devotions. Find them on amazon.com or through Lighthouse Digest magazine.