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Civil War veteran Horace G. Holloway, who later became the keeper of the Sackets Harbor Lighthouse on Horse Island, New York, was the officer in charge of a military detachment that participated in the 35-cannon salute on December 2, 1863 for the dedication ceremony of the Statue of Freedom that sits atop the dome of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. (Lighthouse Digest archives.)
Jefferson B. Browne (June 6, 1857 - May 4, 1937), who was the 1st assistant lighthouse keeper at Florida’s Fowey Rocks Lighthouse from 1878 to 1879, later became the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, where he served as the head magistrate from 1917 to 1923 and as an associate justice from 1923 to 1925. Not bad for a guy who started his career as a lighthouse keeper. (Lighthouse Digest archives)
The 1870 Mission Point Lighthouse in Traverse City, Michigan is located by the 45th parallel, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. It has been rumored that Santa Claus takes a hot cocoa break there every Christmas Eve. (Lighthouse Digest archives photo by Ceil Heller.)
At 4-feet 9-inches tall, Charles H. Hinckley (September 23, 1849 – December 15, 1931) was the shortest lighthouse keeper in U.S. history. He served as the 2nd assistant keeper of the Bishop and Clerks Lighthouse in Massachusetts from 1881 to 1883 and as head keeper there from 1892 to 1919. In between, he was the keeper at Dumpling Rocks Lighthouse, also in Massachusetts, from 1884 to 1892. He is shown here with ferry boat captain Walter Carney who was 6-feet 7-inches tall. In a 1909 magazine article, he was quoted as saying, “There ain’t a great deal of me so far as height goes, but I am all right from my feet up. I’ve laid many a man bigger than me on his back if I do say so myself.”
Sadly, both of the lighthouses where Charles Hinckley served no longer stand. On September 11, 1952, the Bishop and Clerks Lighthouse was blown up, and in 1942 the Dumpling Rocks Lighthouse was demolished. (Lighthouse Digest archives.)
This story appeared in the
May/Jun 2019 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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