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I’ve been writing for years that time is running out to locate and document photographs of lighthouses, keepers and the families who lived at lighthouses. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of descendants of lighthouse keepers who probably have old historic photos in their attics, family Bibles or shoeboxes and have no idea that this magazine exists or that there are preservation groups trying to save and maintain these historic structures and the history associated with them.
A lot of people simply assume that historical societies have all this information in their files. This is so far from the truth. Most historical societies only kept information on their local area and years ago most small towns, if they even had a historical society, operated with little if any money, were part of a local library or was some concerned citizen who kept the items in their house. Also, many lighthouses were in remote locations, hundreds of miles from any town, let alone a historical society.
As time goes on and the only people who know the names in those old photographs pass away, many of these photos will be tossed into the garbage or wind up in the bottom of basket at some antique store. It’s been happening for years and will continue, unless everyone in the lighthouse community makes a larger effort to talk to people about lighthouses.
Every time we get an old photograph in the mail or when someone brings an old photo in to us, it’s like finding gold. So, I know how the folks at Maine’s West Quoddy Lighthouse must have felt when they received a portfolio of black and white family photographs from Sandra Larrabee Hobson whose grandfather served as a keeper at West Quoddy Head Light, the eastern most lighthouse on the mainland of the continental United States in Lubec, Maine. Sandra is the daughter of Floyd Larrabee, son of West Quoddy Lighthouse keeper Eugene Larrabee.
West Quoddy Light, as many of you know, is the famous red and white striped lighthouse that was featured on a United States postage stamp and for regular readers of Lighthouse Digest you’re familiar with the lighthouse from previous issues on the recent painting, restoration and anniversary stories about the lighthouse.
We’re not giving an in-depth story here about the history of the lighthouse, (which can be found on our web site at www.LighthouseDigest.com) but rather simply want to share these historic photos with you.
As you look at the photographs, let your mind drift back in time and imagine what it must have been like to live at this remote rugged outpost in the 1930s on one of the most spectacular locations on the east coast of the United States.
West Quoddy Head Light
Quick Facts
Eastermost lighthouse on the mainland of the United States
l Nearest town – Lubec, Maine
l Established 1808
l Current tower built in 1858
l Automated 1988
l Many experiments were made here with different
types of fog signals
l Now owned by State of Maine and operated
as West Quoddy State Park
l Managed by West Quoddy Head Light Keepers’
Association, which has a museum and interpretative
center in the former keeper’s house.
l West Quoddy State Park has several miles of the most
spectacular headland coastal trails on the east coast
of the United States.
l The summer here is short, but the days are long with
sunrise before 4 a.m.
l Nearby Campobello Island, Canada features beautiful
lighthouses and summer home of president Franklin
D. Roosevelt, which is open to the public.
l Lubec Channel Light can be viewed on your way to
or from West Quoddy Light
We found this poem pasted from a page that had been posted in an old scrapbook found in the archives of the American Lighthouse Foundation. It was with an image of West Quoddy Light and a caption that read, Capt. Warren Murch of Quoddy Head Lighthouse with his wife and daughter are visiting friends in Jonesport and Ellsworth. There was no author posted with the poem, only the statement under the title of poem in parentheses ‘For the Herald.’
Quoddy Light
The great gray sea and the headland bold,
The tall gaunt tower of the lighthouse old,
The rhythmic beat of the waves below,
Gleaming white as the wintry snow.
The sunset flames and smoulders away,
Firing the sales in the lower bay;
And the beacon swings its burning light,
To misty sea and coming night.
And answering lights are kindled afar,
From rocky shore and from sandy bar,
That flush responsive and greetings send.
Burn on, Burn on, O signal light!
Fling out thy message to the night!
In darkness dense and danger’s hour,
Thou art a mighty saving power.
Like loyal hearts that love and cling
Through all the ills that life can bring,
That shines forth with a beauty rare,
Through storms and shipwreck and despair.
This story appeared in the March 2005 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
All contents copyright © 1995 - 2006 by Lighthouse Digest®, Inc. No story, photograph, or any other item on this website may be reprinted or reproduced without the express permission of Lighthouse Digest. For contact information, click here.
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