![]() ![]() The light never failed while she was in service. They're buried near each other in Michigan. She died on April 16, 1905, only six months after retiring, and less than three months after Ann died. She told a reporter she loved the lamps, the lighthouse and the work, that it was home and she'd rather die there than live anywhere else. She worked every single day around the clock for forty years. ![]() ![]() Those were much more interesting logs and I'd rather read those than the ones about the weather that were used in the book. Did she put black cloth on the windows? Drape black cloth on the lighthouse? Then how on July 4th, 1896 she "floated to the breeze" the new U.S. It mentions how when President Garfield was shot in 1881 she draped the lighthouse in mourning, but not exactly what that meant. Straight to the facts, no personal opinions or anything. Her cousin, Schuyler Colfax, was a Congressman and eventually Vice President, and was probably the reason she got her job.ĭuring the Author's Note, it says Harriet was better educated than most keepers, and I was surprised to read that Harriet’s logs are famous for the details she gave, because I thought they were very simple and bare bones. Most became lighthouse keepers because their husbands or fathers were, and I guess they took over for them if they died or something, and couldn't do it anymore. When she leaves the house after she retires, it didn't mention anything about Ann leaving too.Īt the start, there were very few female lighthouse keepers, but in the Author's Note it said there were many women lighthouse keepers throughout our history. I know she was a teacher, but it seemed like she would have helped with some of the tasks Harriet had to do each day. I wondered with all the chores she had to do, if Ann ever helped. In some of the images it made it look like Harriet lived alone, but her friend Ann also lived there. She sold some things from the household, packed her bags and left, and she says "I can do this" as she has throughout her life. She was 37 when she first became the keeper, and 80 when she retired. I like the older lighthouses, not the modern ones. It had coal-fired furnaces and needed several keepers to run. Boy, that would suck.Īnd in 1904 it was replaced by a modern light, ran by a steam engine and boilers and a fog whistle. But the lard oil had to be heated up on the stove, and could freeze over on the walk to the beacon, and would have to be reheated. It was also interesting to see how technology changed throughout history, how the lamp was lit with whale oil, and then later replaced with lard oil, which was cheaper and easier to get. Well, she got them because she didn't quit! During this time work was hard to come by for frontiersmen, so it seemed like the Lighthouse Board was trying to make her quit by making her job even more difficult. Sometimes the Lighthouse Inspector would let Harriet hire an assistant to help with the beacon light, and other times he wouldn't. Lighthouse keeping was definitely not glamorous or as romantic as it seems. The lights and catwalks would get damaged during storms. It's amazing she wasn't cussing mad about all of this. It's like they wanted to make her job miserable! ![]() And then when they added a beacon light on the pier and she had to walk across a catwalk 1500 feet onto Lake Michigan, and then moved it to another spot she had to row to and go across the shore to walk a catwalk that went 500 feet further than the last one. It's crazy what all she had to do, how she went up and down the stairs twice a day, at night to light the lamp and again in the morning to turn the lamp off. After her brother moved, she wanted to stay behind and moved into the lighthouse with her friend Ann. It's amazing what this woman did, how long she was a lighthouse keeper (43 years), and what she did to have her freedom in the place she loved. It can't be too talk, since it's attached to the house and the top was only a little higher than the roof. They didn't say how tall it was, and I wish they had. It looked like a regular house with just the light attached on the roof. Although probably better and easier for the keeper to manage, not walking outside in all types of weather to go to the light.Īnd it wasn't attached on the side either. I was surprised that this lighthouse was attached to the house, unlike most other lighthouses. This was a unique lighthouse for sure, not what I was expecting. There was no background on that, and the book starts out with her moving into the house. It didn't say how Harriet Colfax went from living with her brother to becoming a lighthouse keeper. The phrase "I can do this" was said throughout and would be a good thing for kids to incorporate into their own lives to get them through difficult things in life. This was a pretty inspirational story, and would be good for kids, especially young girls to read, to show them they can do anything they want. ![]()
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