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On March 1972, I became keeper at Little River Light in Cutler, Maine, replacing Robert Marston who transferred to West Quoddy Head Light. Bob’s presence was a welcome change after the disciplined lifestyle on the ship where I had been performing search and rescue missions. He met me at the general store in Cutler and then we boarded the station’s little wooden boat with a 9-hp Johnson outboard.
I had no idea what to expect as we headed for the parallel spruce logs that the hull then rested on as we went to the boathouse. There we got the winch cable that would bring the boat up out of the weather into the boathouse.
Bob’s beagle met us on the boardwalk that traversed the island. After I was shown my room and where I put away my gear, there was scratching at the door. Bob opened the door and in walked a raccoon that started playing with the beagle and eventually went to the kitchen to eat some of the dog food. I knew then that I was in a pretty special place. My mates on the island were Engineman John Arrington and Seaman Gary Sill.
Now, for many people I’m sure lighthouse keeping conjures images of a pristine environment and a quiet peace of the kind that’s increasingly hard to find. But to a 22-year-old with lots of energy and thoughts of his friends back home having a social life, life on the island became a challenge. I walked around the 16-acre island many times, sometimes accompanied by our all-black tomcat. I spotted osprey and mink and lots of old squaw ducks.
Our daily routine consisted of phoning in weather information to Southwest Harbor and turning on the light when the fog rolled in. It was a treat when we would see Grand Manan, New Brunswick, across the bay.
Going to town was a big deal. We would get our food at the Naval Station Commissary down the road. Back then, Cutler consisted of about 300 people and it seemed like they would all show up every day at 11:30 a.m. to wait for a pickup truck that brought the U.S. mail. That must have had some impact on me because I later spent 31 years as a rural carrier.
I served at Little River Light until January 1973 when I was discharged from the Coast Guard at Southwest Harbor. I feel fortunate to have been a small part of Little River’s history.
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