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Editor’s Note: This story was written by nine-year-old Connor Scully in his hopes that it may get other youngsters interested in researching and learning about lighthouse history. The photos
and photo captions have been provided by Lighthouse Digest.
It was August, 1852. Congress had just appropriated funds for a lighthouse on Pumpkin Island, in the town of Deer Isle, Maine. The lighthouse, completed at the end of 1854, guided mariners into Eggemoggin Reach, which connects Penobscot Bay and Blue Hill Bay. The lens in the tower was a fifth order Fresnel lens, one of the first in Maine. The tower, 17 feet tall to the lantern base, was connected by a work shed to a 1½ story keeper’s dwelling.
The first keeper, John C. Tibbets, lit the light for the first time on January 1, 1855. He had an annual salary of $350, which in today’s money would be a yearly salary of around $10,500. He resigned in 1861. After he resigned, he became a storekeeper in Brooklin. He also became the postmaster and volunteered at the local Baptist Church.
Charles L. Babson, the fourth keeper, was shot during the Civil War, and after he had been shipped to a hospital in Rhode Island, his left leg had to be amputated after gangrene had set it. He subsequently fell into a coma and sometime later the doctor pronounced him dead. But to his luck, a young nurse named Susan Woolsey became overcome with grief when the doctor pronounced him dead. As she knelt at his bedside in tears, she took his hand in hers and detected a sign of life when his finger moved. She immediately called the doctor and they eventually revived him.
However, his brother was not so lucky. When it was originally reported that Charles Babson had died, his brother, William, traveled to Rhode Island to claim the body. When he found out that his brother was still alive, he started back to Maine but contracted pneumonia and died.
After returning to Maine, on November 8, 1865, Charles Babson married Georgianna and they settled into small town family life until 1870 when he was appointed the keeper of Pumpkin Island Lighthouse, a position he held until 1902.
In 1915, when Charles Babson and his wife, Georgianna, had their golden 50th anniversary, one of their gifts was a gold case with $1,000 in it, which, in today’s money, is around $24,800. That’s like getting a winning lottery ticket!
In 1911, Charles Newman became keeper. He stayed for nearly 20 years, until 1930. Over the years he rescued or saved a number of people or their vessels. In 1916, Newman rescued a motorboat with two men in it. In 1920, he towed in the Ark, a powerboat. In 1921, he rescued some people afloat in a rowboat. In 1922, he saved someone with a fire extinguisher, and in 1927, he towed a boat to the island. In 1928, he assisted two boats that were wrecked on Merryman’s Ledge.
Unfortunately, the lighthouse was discontinued and destaffed in 1933, because only one ship was using it, and only in the winter months. The last keeper, F. M. Rumery, put the light out for good.
In 1934, the Pumpkin Island Lighthouse was put up for auction, and Senator George Harmon bought it for $552. It has been sold many times since then and remains privately owned.
This story appeared in the
Mar/Apr 2021 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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