Digest>Archives> Jul/Aug 2014

Endangered Halfway Rock Lighthouse is For Sale

By Kathleen Finnegan

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Built in 1871, the Halfway Rock Lighthouse sits ...
Photo by: Bob Trapani, Jr.

Another historic lighthouse is about to go into private ownership. Maine’s Halfway Rock Lighthouse has gone on the auction block and is being sold by the General Services Administration to the highest bidder.

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This vintage image of Halfway Rock Lighthouse ...

The 77-foot tall granite block lighthouse was first lighted on the evening of August 15, 1871 and it was staffed by three lighthouse keepers, two of whom were always on duty. In the early days, before a keeper’s house was built, the keepers lived in the cramped quarters of the tower. When a boat house was built, the keeper’s quarters were constructed above the boat house.

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Halfway Rock Lighthouse as it appeared in 1941 ...

Because of its dangerous access, Halfway Rock Lighthouse was never a family station. However, the first keeper, Captain John Thomas Sterling, would often take his daughter out to the lighthouse. One year on spring vacation from school, Capt. Sterling decided to take his daughter out to the lighthouse with hopes that the isolation would save her from the whooping cough outbreak on the mainland. Unfortunately, a day after her arrival she came down with the dreaded cough and recovered just fine, but she said it was the loneliest vacation of her life.

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The fog signal building at Halfway Rock ...

During World War II, the Coast Guard increased the number of keepers from three to six. The additional crewmen made for crowded conditions in the small keeper’s house, and the young Coast Guardsmen did not fit in well with the old time lighthouse keepers who were still stationed there. After the conclusion of the war, the number of keepers was reduced to four.

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Vintage photo of Halfway Rock Lighthouse showing ...

Arthur S. Strout, of the famous Strout family of lighthouse keepers, was the last U.S. Lighthouse Service keeper to serve at Halfway Rock Lighthouse. In 1939 he also became the first Coast Guard keeper to serve at Halfway Rock Lighthouse. Arthur Strout came to Halfway Rock Lighthouse in 1929 as the 2nd assistant keeper and he worked his way up to the 1st assistant. In 1934 Strout was appointed head keeper upon the death of long-time head keeper Wesley Gray, who had served at Halfway Rock Lighthouse since 1914.

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Head keeper Arthur S. Strout about to enter the ...

In 1939 when the Coast Guard took over the Lighthouse Service, they offered the keepers the option to stay on as Coast Guard civilian keepers or to become Coast Guard keepers. Strout decided to join the Coast Guard and he became a military keeper with the title of Officer in Charge of Halfway Rock Lighthouse, a position he held until 1945.

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Arthur S. Strout cleaning the magnificent third ...

By the 1950s the days of the old keepers of the U.S. Lighthouse Service were gone, replaced mostly by young Coast Guard keepers. Although their duties had some difference, life was pretty much the same at the lighthouse. A winter storm in November of 1953 instilled some fear in the three men on duty. “We weren’t worried until the tide came in about 11:00 am. Then we looked out the kitchen window and saw the waves piling by right under the back porch. About that time the nice stone tower with steps leading up was a mighty comforting thing to have around,” said the Officer in Charge, Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Forrest Cheney. The sea had completely covered the rocky island. They were lucky; the water only carried away the back outside stairs and a portion of the railing.

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Although the paper bags that were used to hold ...

Groceries and supplies were generally sent out to the men once every ten days. To fill in the gaps, a local lobsterman from Bailey Island, named Johnson, would bring out extra supplies and would pick up their mail. One time in 1953 when two civilian workmen were sent out to do some repairs, a spell of bad weather set in and the men found themselves marooned at the lighthouse for an additional five days. With the added mouths to feed, the food soon ran out and when a Coast Guard supply boat was finally able to safely get to the island and get the men off and bring fresh supplies, the men had lived on oatmeal and coffee for two days. The rules in those days were that each man would spend 22 days on and eight days off, but because of weather conditions, mostly sea related, the schedule was rarely kept.

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Head keeper Arthur S. Strout hanging out the ...

In a February 2003 story in Lighthouse Digest, Ken Rouleau recalled his year in 1960 as a Coast Guard keeper at Halfway Rock. He said the place was immaculate; everything was well maintained and the brass was always polished, but the keeper’s quarters were a far cry from being updated. A pipe in the ceiling in the basement provided water for a shower, and their restroom facilities were a chemical toilet that always smelled. The ongoing screaming noise of the generator that supplied electricity, along with days when the fog horn was nonstop, provided for very little quiet time. There was no Lighthouse Digest in those days to read, but Readers Digest was popular among the crew.

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Three of the four Coast Guard keepers at Halfway ...

When a tremendous storm hit Halfway Rock Lighthouse in February of 1972, the third order Fresnel lens was damaged. It was then decided that Halfway Rock Lighthouse would be automated. The Fresnel lens was eventually removed from the tower and replaced by a DCB 224 airport style beacon.

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Seaman Ivan Lavigne by the radio beacon equipment ...

In September of 1975 the men stationed there knew they would be the last to staff the lighthouse, and for men who loved isolation, it would be a sad day. But for others, like the 27-year old Officer in Charge at that time, MK1 Stephen Krikorian, this was not so. He said, “People think it’s real good duty. They say we have it made, but they oughta be out here. It gets to you after a while, trying to find something to do.” When a basketball washed up the rocks one day, to occupy his time he took a ball point pen and outlined and counted all the pimples on the ball. There were 2,248 of them.

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Coast Guard keeper Forest Cheney on the outer ...

On the wall at that time there was a chart entitled, “Home Fly Killings,” as a way to occupy time, and on calm weather days the station was plagued by the flies. To occupy time the men were ordered to scrape and paint old rotted out wooden fuel tanks, even though they knew they were going to be disposed of. One day they cleaned up the entire one acre island and burned all the debris that had washed up. But by the next day the island was full of debris again.

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This vintage post card of Halfway Rock Lighthouse ...

As the harbor became more polluted in those days, the pools of stagnated water, especially one large pool in front of the keeper’s house with oily black water, was almost too much for the men to stand. At an unusually high tide or storm, it would get washed out and they would get a short reprieve before it came back.

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Ken Rouleau at Halfway Rock Lighthouse in 1960 ...

Getting on and off the island from the dory, which was used to get men and supplies from the supply boat to the island, was often a challenge, especially in the winter months. Men often got dumped into the water and food and clothing often went overboard.

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The old fog bell tower at Halfway Rock Lighthouse ...

Interestingly, 19-year old E2 Larry Caron Jr., who was stationed at Halfway Rock Lighthouse as one of the last Coast Guard keepers, also somewhat started out his new married life with Halfway Rock Lighthouse. On his honeymoon with his bride Brenda Wagner, they sailed past the lighthouse on the passenger ship Scotia Prince on their way to Nova Scotia, Canada.

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E2 Larry Caron, Jr. in the kitchen at Halfway ...
Photo by: Charles H. Merrill

In 1975 when the U.S. Coast Guard barge Eagle departed Maine with the remains of Hopley Yeaton, the first commissioned officer, whose remains were removed from a grave at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec, Maine for transport to his new resting place on the grounds of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, on board in the hold of ship next to Hopley’s remains were the crates that contained the third order lens from Halfway Rock Lighthouse. The lens eventually went on display at the Coast Guard Academy Museum and presumably will now eventually go on display at the new soon-to-be National Coast Guard Museum in New London. Today the Halfway Rock Lighthouse has a plastic solar powered optic, which is a far cry from the beautiful third order Fresnel lens that was once in the tower.

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This rare image of Halfway Rock shows the old fog ...

In 1997, under the Maine Lights Program that concluded in 2000, Halfway Rock Lighthouse was offered up for free to any qualified applicant, but no one wanted it. At that time the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF), then under the leadership of Timothy Harrison, stepped forward and was granted a license to the lighthouse for its care. It was Harrison’s philosophy at that time to secure as many lighthouses as possible for ALF so that they could be kept out of private ownership, and worry about raising the money to restore them later, a logical approach that worked well until he met with resistance from ALF’s Board of Directors (Harrison left as president of ALF in 2007). However, in 2004 on a recommendation by Timothy Harrison, while he was still president of the ALF, Maine Preservation declared Halfway Rock Lighthouse as one of the Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties in Maine.

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The modern plastic Vega optic now in Halfway Rock ...
Photo by: Bob Trapani, Jr

In 2012, under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, the General Services Administration (GSA) offered the lighthouse for free to any qualified applicant. As with Boon Island Lighthouse, the American Lighthouse Foundation also declined to apply for ownership of the Halfway Rock Lighthouse. So, finally, on May 14 the lighthouse was put up for sale through an on-line auction.

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Arthur Strout, the last uniformed civilian keeper ...

As a young man in 1960, Ken Rouleau said he was not happy being stationed at Halfway Rock Lighthouse. “There was no social life.” But in 2003 as he recalled a nostalgic look-back of his year on the “rock” he said, “I’d do it again. At my age now, I’d love to be out there.” But he would find things a lot different now; crumbling and peeling paint is everywhere, and the keeper’s house and boat house are in bad shape. Recent reports indicate that part of the roof recently gave way. But with a new owner, one with a little money and some people willing to do a little hard work, the lighthouse could be brought back to its glory days.

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Eventually a helicopter pad was built at Halfway ...


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The flag is flying proudly from high atop the ...


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Interior tower stairway at Halfway Rock ...
Photo by: Bob Trapani, Jr.)


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Members of the board of Maine Preservation at a ...
Photo by: Kathleen Finnegan


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Arthur Strout, head keeper at Halfway Rock ...

This story appeared in the Jul/Aug 2014 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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