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Lighthouse Families in 1936 at Maine’s Two Bush Island Lighthouse
Shown in the lighthouse boat is Florence Cavanor Batty, who was the wife of lighthouse keeper Fred Batty, and daughter of lighthouse keeper Samuel Cavanor. Florence is sitting with her son Seth, and her granddaughter, Nancy Singer, who was the daughter of lighthouse keeper Floyd Singer. Sadly the beautiful keeper’s home that they lived in at Two Bush Island Lighthouse was blown up by the Green Berets in a demolition exercise in 1970. (Robert McLeod collection, Lighthouse Digest archives)
“King Winter Bares His Fangs”
So said the headline that accompanied this photo that was published in Maine newspapers on January 20, 1970. The caption with the photo read, “The winter wind doth blow in Islesboro, Maine these days coating rail beside the road with spray blown from wave tops at high tide. The Grindle Point Lighthouse, now the Sailor’s Museum stands at entrance to Gilkey Harbor. Islesboro is a 12-mile-long island, three miles off the coast of Lincolnville Beach. This picture was taken by Dorothy Pendelton, a year-round resident.” The current tower was built in 1874 replacing an 1851 tower. The lighthouse was deactivated in 1934 and reactivated in 1987 as an aid to navigation.
Great Name
Shown here form a 1936 photo is the Island Lighthouse Restaurant in City Island, New York, which is a small island in the northeastern part of the Bronx, New York. Other than the large lighthouse on its billboard sign, we wonder if the restaurant had any lighthouse décor in its interior?
Last Manned Alaskan Light
This aerial photo of Alaska’s Five Finger Lighthouse was taken shortly before its last four-man Coast Guard crew was removed from the island station on August 14, 1984. It was completed and lighted for the first time on December 16, 1935. It was built to replace an earlier station that had been destroyed by fire. The lighthouse is now under the care of the Five Finger Lighthouse Society.
Covered Lens
This photo of Maine’s West Quoddy Head Lighthouse appeared inside the Summer 1997 booklet “Maine’s Washington County Just Off The Beaten Path,” but we don’t know what year the photo was taken. It clearly shows that the lens was covered. Because the lighthouse was automated in 1988 and the property turned over to the State of Maine, this photo was probably taken sometime before that. It is highly unlikely that West Quoddy Head State Park rangers would have covered the lens during the day and uncovered it each night like the Coast Guard did when it was a staffed light station. We welcome your thoughts.
Spiritual Connotation
In April of 1981, a man named John Romero took over the facsimile Woodlawn Lake Lighthouse in Texas and said he was there on a mission from God to preach for three days from the tower, He said, “I’m just following God’s blueprint.” Woodlawn Lake Park Ranger Alan Robinson said the young man was not breaking any laws by staying in the lighthouse and he had instructed other rangers to leave him alone. Local records indicate that the lighthouse was built as part of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s under President Roosevelt’s New Deal program. The lake was created by the installation of a local dam in 1887. Today, trash and sentiment have left the lake about two to three feet deep. We don’t know what happened to John Romero, nor how his preaching went. (Modern photo of Woodlawn Lake by Larry D. Moore)
This story appeared in the
Mar/Apr 2022 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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