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Egg Rock, rising like a whale out of the ocean a mile northeast of Nahant, Massachusetts, can be seen from many locations north of Boston from Winthrop to Marblehead. The island is about 80 feet high and three acres in area, with very little soil.
The area around Egg Rock was one of the many places along the New England coast where there were reported sea serpent sightings through the centuries. A chronicler of the 17th century, Obadiah Turner, reported that the local Indians had sighted the serpent. "And ye Indians," wrote Turner, "doe say they have manie times seene a wonderful big serpent lying on ye water, and reaching from Nahantus to ye greate rocke wich we call Birdes Egg Rocke."
Egg Rock is an unprotected location and is often battered by fierce wind and waves and is frequently icebound in winter. Alonzo Lewis, historian of Lynn, MA, described the island: "Viewed from the north it has the semblance of a couchant lion, lying out in front of the town, to protect it from the approach of a foreign enemy."
Strangely enough, Egg Rock never belonged to Swampscott, Lynn , or Nahant, the three closest communities. For some reason it fell under the jurisdiction of Salem, north of Lynn. It was the City of Salem that ceded Egg Rock to the Federal Government in 1856 for the building of a lighthouse, after agitation by Swampscott fishermen.
The first lighthouse was built on the island at a cost of $3700. in 1856. The light tower was located on top of a two story stone dwelling. The stone for the building appears to have been cut from the island itself. Its fifth order Fresnel lens produced a fixed white light, first exhibited on June 15, 1856. It was changed to a red flash exactly one year later. A few years before it was discontinued the light was changed back to white.
Milo the Famous Lighthouse Dog
One of the most famous of all lighthouse pets was Milo, a huge Newfoundland/St. Bernard mix. Milo belonged to the first keeper at Egg Rock, George B. Taylor, who lived at the lighthouse with his wife and five children, along with an array of chickens, goats, and a tame crow. One day Taylor was shooting waterfowl on the island, with Milo accompanying him. The keeper shot a loon, which fell into the ocean. The bird was wounded, but not mortally. Milo swam in pursuit, but the loon took off and flew a short distance. Every time Milo would close in, the bird would take off again.
Taylor watched the chase from the island until Milo and the loon disappeared from sight. The next day Milo was seen swimming from the town of Nahant, where he apparently spent the night. He made it safely back to his home on Egg Rock.
Local fishermen enjoyed playing a kind of game with Milo. They would lash two or three cod to pieces of wood and Milo would retrieve the bundles, sometimes as far as a mile from the island, and bring them back to the Taylors for dinner. In foggy weather, Milo also served as a kind of fog signal, barking at vessels as they approached the Egg Rock. Keeper Taylor often said that his dog was as useful as the light.
Over the next few years, Milo achieved fame as the rescuer of several children around Egg Rock. An artist, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, painted a portrait of Milo with keeper Taylor's young son, Fred, nestled between the dog's paws. This painting, captioned "Saved," became famous across America.
The Taylor's Life at the Rock
An 1860 article described life at Egg Rock: "We found Mrs. Taylor quite contented and happy with her lot, and she assured us that she, as well as the children, had become attached to the place, and were homesick if compelled to remain upon the shore for any great length of time. During the summer months large numbers visit the rock, as many as three hundred having been there during the month of August... It made us a little nervous to see the children running about and skipping from rock to rock" None of the children were ever hurt except for one who fell from the doorstep.
Keeper Taylor lost his job, reportedly because he did not vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1861 and the Taylors left the Rock forever.
The Next Era of Keepers
Thomas Widger, the second keeper, was at Egg Rock from 1862 to 1871. Widger and his wife had three sons born on the island during their thirteen years there, as well as two daughters born ashore in Swampscott.
When the birth of one of their sons was imminent, Keeper Widger rowed his dory to shore and enlisted the help of a midwife from the town of Swampscott. In the heavy surf, the dory capsized and threw the pair overboard. The woman refused to go further and keeper Widger returned the woman to the mainland and then rowed alone back to Egg Rock. Abraham Widger was born a short time later without the help of the midwife.
There wasn't much soil on Egg Rock, but Abraham Widger later remembered that his family had a vegetable garden. They also kept chickens and pigs. "We never gave the neighbors any trouble," said Widger. "They were too far away on shore."
Harry N. Richardson followed Widger as keeper. He is best remembered for some colorful Log entries such as:
"A severe rainstorm. Keeper went ashore to get some groceries and got caught in storm; was detained away four days on account of the rough seas. The wife kept the light all trimmed and burning bright and clear. Keeper was drunk ashore all the time."
More of Richardson's entries: "May 1873 - Eden Phillips caught a cod off the rock & a gold ring in it, 18k with H.L. marked on it." (Note: Poor Mr. Phillips had already sold the cod when the ring was discovered inside).
"July 25, 1877 - 2 ladies and Mr. Deny upset landing, Mr. Horton rescued them. The house needs repairing all over, the lighting rods ain't good for nothing, and the smoak stack bin off a year."
There's a story involving a keeper of Egg Rock Light that has been passed down through the years, but which appears to be legend rather than fact. It seems the wife of one of the keepers in the later part of the 19th century died in the early winter. Egg Rock was surrounded by ice so the keeper couldn't bring the body to the mainland. Instead he laid her in an out-building, where she soon froze solid.
In the early spring when the ice had cleared enough, the keeper rowed his wife's body to the mainland. A funeral was held that day. After the funeral the keeper visited an old childhood sweetheart. He hastily proposed marriage, and the same preacher who had performed the keeper's first wife's funeral just hours earlier, married the couple. The keeper was back at Egg Rock before nightfall, according to the legend.
Another story that might help explain the origins of this legend is related in a letter at the Lynn Historical Society. It seems that for some years, the keeper at Egg Rock had a system for signalling people in the nearby town of Nahant when he needed supplies. One occasion during a long storm a signal believed to be, "My wife is dead" was received from the lighthouse. When the storm abated, a party went to Egg Rock with a coffin, only to learn that the signal had actually been, "My light is dead."
In 1897, the lighthouse burned down. It was soon rebuilt, but not before the workmen's shacks were also destroyed by fire. An oil house was built in 1904, and a new pier and boat house were added in 1906.
Captain George L. Lyon became keeper in 1889. Charles A. Lawrence visited Egg Rock and later described Keeper Lyon, who was previously a keeper at Minot's Light:
"Bronzed and blue-shirted, his yellow beard suggested the Norseman of old . . . His cordial welcome was seconded by his mother, a woman then almost ninety years of age . . ."
During a tour of the lighthouse, the keeper told Lawrence:
"Lots of people ask us what makes the light red, and we tell 'em it's the red oil. Some of 'em don't get it, and they say, "Oh, that's it! I never knew!"
During his two decades at Egg Rock, Keeper Lyon took a correspondence course in mechanical drawing. He was a carpenter, boat builder, reportedly an expert marksman with a rifle, and his mechanical aptitude enabled him to repair the dory engines of many local fisherman. Lyon's crowning achievement at Egg Rock was the invention of a landing stage on the island. With this arrangement a boat landing on the island was actually hoisted out of the water onto a deck, then hoisted into a boathouse. A powerful hand winch was used for both hoists. After leaving Egg Rock in 1911, George Lyon became keeper at Graves Light in Boston Harbor.
During World War I, the light at Egg Rock was dimmed, out for fear of enemy submarines in the area. Around this time, a telephone cable connected the lighthouse to the mainland.
The End of an Era
In 1919, it was decided that a keeper was no longer necessary at Egg Rock, and an automatic beacon was placed in the tower. Then, in 1922, the light was discontinued.
The government offered the lighthouse at a cost of five dollars to anyone who could remove the building from the island at his own expense. A buyer soon turned up, and a crew was hired to move the lighthouse onto a barge.
In October, 1922, as the crew slowly moved the building, a rope snapped. The house rolled onto its side and crashed into the ocean. For some time the remains of the Egg Rock Lighthouse washed up on local beaches. The state of Massachusetts took over Egg Rock in 1927 and maintained it as a bird sanctuary.
Egg Rock Light, an important beacon for almost 70 years, survives today only in legend and the dusty pages of history.
This story appeared in the February 1999 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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