On the morning of April 18, 19096, Emily Fish was making her final rounds at Point Piños Light station. Suddenly, around 5 AM, the horses and cows became quite agitated. A few minutes later, the earth began to shake violently, and she heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the light tower. Sixty miles away, at Angel Island Light in San Francisco, her stepdaughter, Juliet Nichols, watched helplessly as buildings on the mainland collapsed and burned. Although the damage at Point Piños was considerable, the Great Earthquake of 1906 did little to dampen the spirit of Emily Fish.

Emily A. Fish was born in 1843, the well-bred daughter of a prominent Michigan family. Sometime after the passing of her sister, who died while giving birth in China, Emily married Dr. Melancthon Fish, her late sister’s husband. Dr. Fish, an eminent medical doctor, held a consular post in China for a number of years. Unable to bear children, Emily raised her niece, Juliet, as her own daughter. Her husband later served as an Army surgeon during the Civil War. Not content to simply stay home and wait for her husband’s return, Emily bravely followed him from one battle camp to another.

Dr. Fish eventually gave up his consular post in China. He established a private medical practice in Oakland, CA, and taught at the University of California. Emily was only 50 when her husband died. Still an energetic and attractive woman, she determined to make herself useful. When her son-in-law, Henry Nichols, the area Lighthouse Inspector, casually mentioned the retirement of the Point Piños Lightkeeper, Emily jumped at the chance. Henry, who like most people found it difficult to refuse this determined woman, did his best to secure the appointment.

Point Piños Light was established at Pacific Grove in 1855, as only the second lighthouse to be built on the West Coast. In a style that would be repeated up and down the Pacific coastline, the Cape Cod-style building consisted of a simple, 1-story dwelling with a tower rising through the center. Although the tower itself is quite small, the towering cliffs of Monterey Bay allowed the 3rd-Order Fresnel lens enough elevation to magnify the light considerably. It is interesting to note that Emily Fish was actually the second woman to tend Point Piños Light. The first, Charlotte Layton, was widowed when her keeper husband, Charles, was killed pursuing a bandit, as part of a sheriff’s posse in 1856.

In 1893, Emily Fish moved into Point Piños Lighthouse, changing the ambiance of this simple bungalow forever. She introduced thoroughbred horses, milk cows, white leghorn chickens, and even several French poodles, to roam the 95 acres of Point of Pines. Emily also brought along her faithful servant, Que, who had been with the family since their days in China. She decorated the house with antique furniture, beautiful paintings, fine china, and leather-bound books. The wind-blown lawn was transformed into a lovely garden, with colorful flowers, a cypress hedge, and a picket fence. While allowing workers to care for the grounds and animals, Mrs. Fish took her position as lightkeeper to heart, personally polishing the precision lenses and keeping the lamps in fine working order.

Emily Fish retired from the Lighthouse Service in 1914, remembered not only for her social graces, but for 20 years of serious dedication. Point Piños Light remains active today, holding the distinction as the oldest, continuously active light on the Pacific Coast.

Wikipedia update (04/06/2021): The Point Piños Lighthouse is still an active Coast Guard aid to navigation. On-site museum exhibits and other lighthouse related functions are operated by the city of Pacific Grove, Monterey County, California. The lighthouse is surrounded by the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links .

It is believed that the ghost of a young teenage female is also said to haunt the Point Piños Lighthouse. Her ghost is said to have remained within the building since her death from tuberculosis in the early 1900s.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Hudson River served as a major transportation artery, providing a direct connection for passengers and cargo traveling between Albany and the Atlantic Ocean. It is often forgotten, however, that until the advent of lighted navigational aids, such travel was restricted to daylight hours. River lights, which began to appear in the early 1800s, allowed commerce to continue unimpeded around the clock.

Fifty miles north of New York City, where Esopus Creek pours fresh water into the brackish Hudson, one of the world’s most important manufacturing centers was born during the 1820s. Henry Barclay and Robert Livingston built a dam and deep water port on the creek, attracting numerous industries to the Saugerties area. Within 10 years, blue paving stones, paper, glass, and gunpowder were processed in huge quantities at nearby foundries. A commixture of fresh and salt water provided fertile feeding grounds for enormous sturgeon, striped bass, shad, and other delectable fish to feed a growing population. Until the onset of pollution and the invention of electric ice boxes, the Hudson also provided an abundance of cut ice during the winter.

To aid the numerous cargo ships and passenger ferries, officials decided to build a light station at Saugerties in 1869. A previous stone lighthouse, built in 1834 on a river sand bar, had long since fallen into disrepair. Situated on a solid stone pier, the new building would best be described as a 2-story, brick Italianate structure. A 6th-Order Fresnel lens, smallest of the French-designed lenses, completed the square tower, and provided adequate light for approaching river traffic.

During its 85 years of active service, no less than 21 keepers tended Saugerties Light, including 2 women. One of these women, Kate Crowley, came from a long line of lightkeepers. She was a powerful, able-bodied woman, who took to her duties as well as any male keepers. When winter winds turned the Hudson into a sheet of ice, and shipping came to a standstill, Kate was well known for her ice skating skills on the frozen river. She served with distinction from 1873 to 1885.

By the mid-1950s, the Coast Guard began to automate many of our river lights. In 1954, the Saugerties station was permanently closed, and the light moved to a nearby steel tower. Over the next 20 years, the ravages of time and neglect took a serious toll on this once proud lighthouse. Were it not for local citizens, officials would have torn down this historic treasure. A determined non-profit organization, the Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy, has made a monumental effort to restore Saugerties Light to its former glory. Today, the lighthouse appears much as it did 100 years ago, thanks to this team of faithful volunteers. Tours of this “living museum” are available weekends and holidays during the summer or by appointment.

Lighthousefriends.com update (04/07/2021): Saugerties Lighthouse, furnished in 1920s décor, is now open to the public and welcomes overnight guests as a bed and breakfast. Visitors can walk to the lighthouse along a one-half-mile-long trail through the Ruth Reynolds Glunt Nature Preserve, where they will be greeted by a modern day resident keeper who runs the bed and breakfast and maintains the lighthouse.

From the earliest days of history, when glaciers first created Cape Cod, winds and stormy seas have pummeled this beautiful peninsula. Shifting sands and hidden shoals continue to create a hazardous situation for even the most experienced mariner.

Not long after the first light station was built at Highland in 1806, officials concluded that Cape Cod was in need of a second beacon. To help navigators find safe passage from Nantucket Sound around the Cape, a strategic location at Chatham was chosen to build a new lighthouse. To distinguish Chatham from other fixed white lights, a decision was made to create a twin light system. Although the original plan called for the towers to be built of stone, there were simply none to be hade on the windswept Cape. An idea was offered to not only build the towers of wood, but to set them on movable skids, so that the towers could be moved when the entrance channel shifted. Two years later, the towers and keeper house were completed, and the first oil lamp was it.

Unable to withstand the harsh Cape elements, the original wooden towers only last until 1841. New 40' brick towers were constructed further inland, each house 9 lamps and 15" reflectors. In those days, most keepers received their appointments through political patronage. Collin Howes, disabled in a fishing accident, was no exception. In 1845, Howes lost his position to Simeon Nickerson, who found more favor with the new administration in Washington. Nickerson, whose forebears had founded the town of Chatham, died unfortunately in 1848, leaving behind a destitute wife and children. His widow, Angeline, like most keeper’s wives, had actively assisted her husband while he was alive, and was designated keeper.

After Mrs. Nickerson took over as keeper of the Chatham twins, Collin Howes began a vicious letter campaign against her, hoping to regain his old job. Outraged by Howes’ unseemly conduct, one of Simeon Nickerson’s relatives wrote a letter to President Polk, vigorously defending Angeline and her faithful attendance to her duties. She remain steadfast in her post until her retirement in 1857. That same year, 4th-Order Fresnel lenses were installed, replacing the outdated parabolic reflectors.

In 1870, a powerful storm ripped through the barrier beaches and destroyed much of Chatham Harbor. Within 6 years erosion was such that only 95' separated the towers from a 50' bluff. In September, 1877 the original lenses were relocated in a new pair of brick and iron towers, some distance from the cliff. A handsome cottage was provided for Keeper Joseph Hardy and his family. Mr. Hardy will be forever remembered for his wonderfully detailed keeper’s log, diligently kept for 20 years.

With improvements in technology, by 1923, it was deemed unnecessary to employ 2 beacons at Chatham. The north tower was dismantled and moved to Nauset Beach, replacing the Three Sisters of Nauset Light. In 1969, a powerful aero beacon replaced the Fresnel lens system, boosting the lantern’s power to 2.8 million candlepower. Ships as far away as 25 miles can now find their way o a dark and stormy night.

Wikipedia update (04/06/2021): Today, the former keeper's house is an active U.S. Coast Guard station, and on-duty personnel living quarters. Search and Rescue, maritime law enforcement, and Homeland Security missions are carried out here. Flotilla 11-01 of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary operates from this station.

When Abigail Burgess was just 17 years old, she was faced with a life and death crisis that few of her elders could have managed better. In January of 1856, her father, keeper of Matinicus Rock Light, was away buying food and supplies, as well as medicine for his sick wife. During his absence, a powerful gale blew up from the Atlantic, leaving Burgess cut off from the station for 3 weeks. Twenty-two miles from the mainland, on a remote islet, Abbie kept her wits and did her best to care for her invalid mother and three young sisters. As the first storm clouds approached, she moved her mother and sisters out of the dwelling and into the north stone tower. Abbie also rescued the chickens, which supplied the hungry family with eggs. Throughout the entire ordeal, this young heroine never once let the lights go out, even during hurricane conditions. When Burgess finally returned, he found his family safe and secure, thanks to his level-headed daughters. Although most the keeper’s house and parts of the station had been washed out to sea, the lamps were still burning brightly.

Samuel Burgess received his appointment to the lonely outpost on Matinicus Rock in 1853. These twin lights, originally built in 1822 on a small outcropping, 4 miles south of Matinicus Island, offered one of the most difficult positions in the lighthouse service. Several previous keepers either died or quit because of the severe hardships. Due to his wife’s constant need for medicines and doctors, Burgess supplemented his income as a lobsterman. With her father and brother away much of the time, most of the lightkeeping duties fell to 14-year-old Abbie. Trimming the 14 wicks and polishing the reflectors on each of the towers required tremendous diligence, and Abbie performed her duties admirably.

A year after the terrible storm of 1856, the towers were replaced by new granite structures with modern 3rd-Order Fresnel lenses. Four years later, with the election of Abraham Lincoln, Samuel Burgess lost his postion to a Republican political appointee, John Grant. Not wishing to simply abandon the new keeper, Burgess suggested that his daughter assist Mr. Grant. Within a few weeks, Grant’s son Isaac, the assistant keeper, fell deeply in love with the demure maiden. A year later the young couple took their wedding vows at the light station. After their marriage, Abbie continued to tend the lights and her husband was named head keeper. Over the next 10 years, Abbie bore four children at Matinicus Rock, and the family seemed quite happy.

In 1872, Abbie’s husband was transferred to Whitehead Light, Near Spruce Head, Maine. Three years later Isaac Grant sadly passed away. Soon after, Abbie received her long-deserved appointment as Keeper. She served in her post until 1890, when she suddenly grew ill. Although only 50 years old, she was forced into an early retirement. Upon leaving Whitehead, Abbie seemed to lose all interest in living. Before her death in 1892, she wrote, “If I ever have a gravestone, I would like it in the form of a lighthouse.” In 1945, historian Edward R. Snow placed a miniature lighthouse on Abbie’s grave, granting her last wish.

Today, Matinicus Light and Abbie Burgess Grant are rarely mentioned apart from one another. One of the old towers continues to flash its automated beacon to grateful mariners. Matinicus Rock, an important nesting site for puffins, now serves as a research headquarters for Audubon biologists.

Wikipedia update (04/06/2021): In 1827 the United States Lighthouse Service erected a pair of wooden light towers and a cobblestone keeper's residence on Matinicus Rock. The lights guided sea traffic until 1848 when they were replaced by the granite structures. In 1857 the government rebuilt the towers and placed them 180' (55 m) apart to make them more effective; the north light was deactivated in 1924. Alexander Parris, the architect who designed the 1848 lighthouses, also designed many stone buildings in New England including the 1825 Quincy Market in Boston, Massachusetts.

Matinicus Light is famous for the story of Abbie Burgess, who as a young girl maintained the light for several weeks while her father, the lighthouse keeper, was on the mainland. Winter storms prevented his timely return. Her mother was also very sick.

Matinicus Rock is now fully automated. A diesel generator used for power was replaced by solar panels in 2007. Matinicus Rock is known as being the southernmost nesting site for the Atlantic puffin and as of 2009, the common murre. The Audubon Society often has observers on island during nesting season.

On a blustery day in 1857, 4 young men set out in a small sailboat in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island. In an effort to tease and frighten his 3 companions, one of the boys climbed up the mast and began to rock the boat to and fro. It was a decidedly foolish thing to do, as the small vessel quickly capsized. Unable to swim, the 4 clung to the hull of the boat, and began to shout for their very lives. A keeper’s young daughter, Ida Lewis, from nearby Lime Rock Light, heard the desperate pleas and rowed to their rescue. Keeping a cool head, lest she allow the hysterical boys to drag her overboard, the 15-year-old pulled each one of them over the stern of her boat and return them to safety. Thus began the lifesaving career of one of America’s most beloved lightkeepers.

Idawalley Zorada Lewis was born in Newport in 1842. Ida, as she came to be known, was the eldest daughter of Captain Hosea Lewis. In 1853, when she was 11-years-old, her father was appointed keeper of a new light station on Lime Rock island. Originally just a simple lantern and rough shed, the light was located 200 yards offshore from Newport Harbor. In 1857, a 13' granite tower was constructed to house a new 6th-Order Fresnel lens. Connected to the new tower was a plain, 2-story dwelling, enabling the Lewis’ to move onto the island. A few months later, Hosea Lewis suffered a crippling stroke. Now, in addition to domestic chores and caring for a seriously ill sister, Isa took over most of the lightkeeping duties. This included refilling the lamp oil at sundown and midnight, trimming the wick, polishing the reflectors, and extinguishing the light at dawn. Ida was also given the daily chore of rowing her siblings to and from school, as well as shopping for needed supplies. Although she never found time to complete a formal education, Ida did become an expert tower, a skill that would prove quite valuable in the coming years.

Over the next few years, Ida grew more adept in her lifesaving skills. Numerous rescues earned her national notoriety as the “Heroine of Lime Rock.” A daring rescue of 2 drowning sailors in a winter gale, in March of 1869, is immortalized in a National Archives painting. Although sick with a severe cold, she jumped into her lifeboat with her stocking feet, saving the men with only moments to spare. Soon after that dramatic event, articles about Ida appeared in the New York Tribune, Harper’s Weekly, and Leslie’s magazine. Awards and gifts were presented to her by several foundations. On July 4th, the town of Newport held a parade in her honor, followed by the presentation of a beautiful mahogany rowboat. A short time later, President Ulysses S. Grant paid a visit to Lime Rock, deeply impressed by this brave, unassuming woman. Ida received letters from admirers throughout the country, including numerous marriage proposals. In 1870, she married William Wilson, a Connecticut fisherman. A restless soul, Wilson took to sea after just 2 years, and Ida never remarried.

Ida continued to care for the light until her father’s death in 1872. As was the cstom, her mother ws appointed keeper, although Ida assumed full responsibility. In 1879, Congress officially gave Ida the title and salary of Keeper. She continued steadfast in her post until her death in 1911. During her remarkable career, she is credited with saving at least 18 lives, although it may have been as many as 25. Her last recorded rescue, occurred when she was 63-years-old. Lime Rock Light was officially renamed Ida Lewis Rock Light in 1924, the only such honor ever bestowed on a keeper. Automated in 1927 and deactivated in 1963, the sentinel is now owned and operated by the Ida Lewis Yacht Club.

Lighthousefriends.com update (04/07/2021): In 1927, the light was transferred to a 30' steel tower placed in front of the dwelling and automated. The following year, the 100' long, 80' wide Ida Lewis Rock was sold at auction for $7,200, and the buildings and grounds were transformed into the Ida Lewis Yacht Club. Around this time, a boardwalk was built connecting the mainland to the rock. The light atop the steel tower was switched off for good in 1963. In tribute to America’s best-known lighthouse keeper, the lighthouse that bears her name is lighted as a private aid to navigation during the summer months each year.

The original 6th-Order Fresnel lens, which had been placed in storage at the Staten Island Lighthouse Depot, returned to the Yacht Club in 1932 and was displayed there for a while before being given to the Newport Historical Society. In 1995, the Coast Guard named the first of its new keeper class of coastal buoy tenders in honor of Ida Lewis. Appropriately, the Ida Lewis buoy tender is homeported in Newport.