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As the interest in lighthouse preservation has grown in popularity the most difficult aspect of compiling historical data associated with lighthouses is locating the old photographs and memories of the keepers associated with the lighthouses.

However, even more difficult to locate are the photographs and memories of people other than lighthouse keepers who worked for the United States Lighthouse Service on the Lighthouse Tenders, at the Lighthouse Depots and in clerical and management positions with the U. S. Lighthouse Service.

Here we will share you photographs from the family files of George Ralph Goddard, Jr. whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather all served in the United States Lighthouse Service. In fact George Jr., the fourth generation of Goddards became the heir to the U.S. Lighthouse Service Legacy when he was literally born in the Chelsea Lighthouse Depot keeper’s house in Chelsea, Massachusetts on March 26, 1926.

While trying to find additional information on the Chelsea Lighthouse Depot, we were fortunate enough to have Jim Claflin who generously shared a number of rare photographs with us from his collection that we felt were also vital to publish with this photo essay. Unfortunately, we don’t know the names of the people in the photos, nor do we have any real history on the Chelsea Lighthouse Depot. As time goes on we hope that information on the this and other depots will surface.

Most of the material given to us by George R. Goddard Jr. is the recorded memories of Capt. George Halsey Goddard’s life aboard various vessels he served on in the 1800’s before he joined the United States Lighthouse Service. It wasn’t until 1880, at the personal request of Admiral Mickols, that he became the first mate of the Lighthouse Tender Cactus.

All of this material will now become part of the archives of the American Lighthouse Foundation and the photographs will eventually be used in interpretative displays in the Museum of Lighthouse History in Wells, Maine.

This story appeared in the March 2005 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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