And we need your mic up a little bit. You're
number two or one? I'm number one. I'm number
one. Try it one more time. I was number one.
There we go. Thanks. I love you, honey. I love
you, too. Do you like your coffee? Yes, all right.
This is half sweet. It's very white. Yeah, that's
ridiculous. I was going to add extra shots and
do all that, but it was already expensive. I
totally understand. Thank you for the gift. Get
ready for this gift. Hi everybody. I'm Emily.
And I'm Vince. And this is the Lighthouse Lowdown.
Saw some of those dance moves last night. That's
right. We were dancing. We were picking our first
dance. No, our wedding playlist. We did some
dancing. Some couch dancing. We had to play each
song and feel it out. And I kind of judge what
song would be good by seeing how Vince dances
to it. Because really, I have the most fun. And
we have a picture of this from one of our friends'
wedding, the one in Spain, where you're dancing
and I'm watching you laughing. And that's what
I'm looking for whenever we are out dancing,
is I just want to watch you and kind of move.
Yeah, I'm trying to get you to dance by dancing.
Yeah, but watching you dance is the best part.
Inspirational dancing. Yeah, I was kind of just...
observing you last night to determine what were
good dance songs. Nice. So we've got a pretty
good list going. So. Speaking of lists. What
episode? This is episode 84. 84. And I do have
a history of Bowie. Let's go. Float it out there.
And it's Maine Open Lighthouse Day. Maine is
in the state. Open Lighthouse Day. Open Lighthouse
Day. And this is an annual event that happens
in Maine. It has something to do with our episode.
What? Are you laughing? I just thought that was
obvious. Actually, not that it's. Please continue.
Okay. Yeah. Annual event. None of that signifies
an event happening or that it's in. This event
is sponsored by the United States Coast Guard,
the main office of tourism. Maine, the state,
Office of Tourism, and the American Lighthouse
Foundation. Three sponsors. Yeah, I know. It's
kind of crazy. But it has up to 18 ,000 visitors
each year, offering a chance to see, this year,
18 lighthouses that are not usually open to the
public. That's crazy. Yeah. And there are ways
to see the lighthouses, but they're very... unpredictable
and usually you have to pay to stay there like
kind of the access is reduced and so this is
like a day of free access to all of the lighthouses
that normally are difficult to experience how
do they uh how do they staff them for such a
surge like that i'm sure it's volunteers like
all volunteer works it's incredible because each
lighthouse is owned by somebody that have volunteers
and normally it's accessible like under specific
occasions so So this year, it's on September
13th, so we're coming up close on it. By the
time this episode airs, we're going to be less
than a month away. Oh, my gosh. I know. And it's
from 9 a .m. to 3 p .m., although some lighthouses
have different hours. You have to check the website
that I have linked in my show notes to find out.
Absolutely. And the website also lists all of
the lighthouses that are participating, plus
what part of the station is open for you to see.
The special hours, how to get there, and a short
blip about if it's a current aid and who owns
it right now. Really cool. And that list also
includes some museums, such as the Maine Lighthouse
Museum, which, by the way, has the largest collection
of Fresnel lenses in the nation. Maine? So that's...
Where is it at in Maine? I don't know. I mean,
I'm going to pull up a map here in a second so
you can see where they all are. We have a friend
getting married before this episode even comes
out. We're going to go to their wedding, and
they are going to Maine for their honeymoon.
Oh, that's right. Yeah, so I was asking them
about where he's going to go, what they're going
to do. Yeah, I want to know. I think Bar Harbor
is the furthest north that they said they're
going to, which I was surprised by. Yeah, then
they won't get, I don't think they'll get close
to the lighthouse we're covering today. It's
like pretty far up there. Yeah, and we told them
about another one, the one that was on the quarter.
Do you remember what that one was? Pemaquid?
Pemaquid Point. Yeah, we told them about our
episode on that. I think that's further north
of Bar Harbor, if I remember right. Okay. We'll
see what names we can see on the map because
it's pretty zoomed out. Cool. But yeah, I'll
pull it up. Boom. There's the map. And I have
an example on here of one that's available for
people to see that's not usually open. It's called
Moose Peak Lighthouse. And the location, and
this is all on the website, says Mistake Island
Offshore. Mistake Island is awesome. The buildings
that are open is the tower. How to get there,
it says the private owners will be making two
boat trips, seven passengers per trip, from Jonesport
to Mistake Island. And then it says please contact
the owners of Moose Peak Light at the following
email address for more information, moosepeaklighthouse
at gmail .com. And then it says for those visiting
the island on their own, the tower will be open
9 a .m. to 3 p .m. So you can take your own boat,
yeah, to get over there. And it says the lighthouse
is an active Coast Guard aid to navigation. The
light station structures are privately owned.
So that's like all the kind of information that
you can see on the website if you look at each
lighthouse. And I pulled a picture of what Moose
Peak looks like. And then the map shows all the
participating lighthouses that you can go see
on Main Open Lighthouse Day, plus two purple
M's. Those are the museums that you can see.
That's awesome. So you can see Owl's Head Lighthouse
is on there. That's a popular one. Haunted. I
don't remember that story. Did we cover Owl's
Head? No, we haven't yet. I've heard of it though.
I keep getting intimidated by the amount of information
to cover by the popular lighthouses. Sometimes
I put those off in favor of the smaller ones.
Save them for the future somehow when we're going
to have more time. Yeah, for some reason. I think
later that'll be a good one. It's like, no, we're
going to be busy forever. You know, for those
who don't know, we're planning our wedding right
now. We're getting married here in Kansas City.
December 20th. And anyways, we're figuring it
out. I was thinking about something. And so we're.
Busy right now, but everyone I talk to is busy.
It's crazy. Yeah. I gave my dad a call on the
way home from the gym. He asked what we're up
to. Anyways, he ended up asking, so what's getting
covered today in the episode? I was like, I have
no idea. And he's like, what do you mean? I said,
well, Emily's presenting the information, which
is every three out of four times. And I was like,
so. I don't know. I learn along with the audience.
And he was blown away. Really? Really, yeah.
Has he never listened to our podcast? I don't
think he's listened to any podcast ever. No,
I understand. He's a heart surgeon. I don't think
he's a podcast guy. No. But anyway, so there's
a glimpse into the ongoings. The daily life.
Vincent Bailey. But yes, so I have the map pulled
up here. So everyone, if you have the ability
to do and participate in Maine Open Lighthouse
Day, it's free. But they take donations, obviously,
to help support our lighthouses. It was National
Lighthouse Day just a couple days ago. August
7th is National Lighthouse Day. And I put some
on my private account, just like. Some Instagram
posts. Yeah, some cool pictures we've taken of
lighthouses on our last trip. So 18 lighthouses
this year. Right now, I think. That are not typically
open? Yeah, or difficult to get your hands on.
That's cool. What a nice idea. Yes, and the lighthouse
we're covering today is pictured on this map
because... Ow! Okay. What's going on? It's my
elbow. The hazards of recording a podcast. Yeah.
unfamiliar setting. On this map, I did a little
blip, zoomed in. We're going to Little River
Lighthouse, which is very far north in Maine
on the coastline. You can see the edge of Canada.
Can you point at where it's at for me? I see
that it's Canada, but Little Bear, or Little
River. I can't see it. I can't see the script.
I don't have my glasses on. Can you tell me where
this is at on the map? What? Where is the lighthouse?
The tiny dot. I see the zoomed in. Where is that
zoomed in to? The red line. Oh, okay. I thought
that was the border to Canada. It is not. I'm
not understanding what part you can't see. She
pointed at this line that goes across the screen.
The screen's like. Three feet from me, four feet.
Yeah, I was like, yeah, that's the border. You
said Canada. It's close. This black line is Canada.
Oh, yeah. Goes off screen. I was like, things
are much worse than I anticipated. So Little
River Lighthouse, which I'm pretty sure now that
I'm saying it out loud for the first time, I
have a feeling I'm going to get tongue tied at
some point. Little River. Little River. Oh, yeah,
absolutely. Yeah, it's coming. Little River.
Little River Lighthouse. Lil Wayne. So you can
see it on the map. It's outside Cutler, Maine.
And in 1842, IWP Lewis did his report that we've
mentioned, that we've referred to several times,
which really should be a history buoy. I put
it on my list. And in his report, he said, quote,
there is no place on the coast of Maine where
a light would be so truly serviceable as upon
the island at the entrance of this harbor, a
small beacon light being alone required. Which
is so funny that how speaking used to be so different.
I was going to say, okay, all right. All these
letters that we've read, they're all recorded
history. Yeah. And they all had a lighthouse
built. That's the sample bias. Yes. to the Congress
or whoever the audience was, was so dramatic.
It was. Never in the world has there been a greater
need for a lighthouse. The suffering of this
coastline and the constitutional infractions
on the people are outrageous. And that you would
write a letter, and this is not typing, that
you would go to such lengths to make a sentence
so long. Nowadays, it would just be like, we
really need a lighthouse on this harbor. And
that would be it. Like this whole sentence. This
is before people had cell phones. They just sit
with a parchment and stare at it with their quill
in hand. It's like they would write a couple
words and then walk away and then come back and
then write another. Also, education was so much
more varied at the time that this was like a
flux. Like, look, I can spell kind of. A small
beacon light being alone required. You're saying
one small beacon light. And sometimes they would
write this every year. They'd write these letters
for years and years before one of them would
be like, fine, this one's better than the other
ones this year. Your voice coming through when
you do that sounds exactly like, oh, what am
I thinking? Oh, The Incredibles. Whenever they're
at the very beginning, there's like some voiceover
about. how superheroes were ostracized from society
because of these events that happened. Where
are they today? Oh, it's like an old newsreel.
Here you see. You see. You would have a great
voice for that. For the 1920s radio station.
It's really good. I kind of like it. Thank you.
No. Oh, sorry. Thank you. You're very trigger
happy today with this. Caffeine. Really? Well,
no. But yes. But, okay. Okay, back on track.
So we have Lewis pining for a lighthouse at this
harbor. Yes. The problem was that there was no
usable harbors for ships to dock between Little
River and West Quaddy. And we've covered West
Quaddy. We know Quaddy. It's the furthest north.
Where's Waldo? Lighthouse, yes. A little Where's
Waldo stripe. They probably hate that. Sorry,
guys. No. They're probably like, no, not, it's
just red and white. It's just stripes, okay?
It's not Waldo. Shit. But between these two lighthouses,
there's two false harbors called Moose Cove and
Bailey's Mistake. Hold on. Lots of mistake stuff
going on. My last name is Bailey. I know, but
it's spelled B -A -Y -L -I -E, like a bay and
then Lee. Interesting. Yeah. So kind of cute.
We wanted to name our first child Bailey. It's
spelled like that. Bailey. No. Bailey Bailey
is not welcome. I would never do that. I just
wanted to see your face. I think our name was
B -A -I -L -E -E when we came to the U .S. But
they wrote it down the way it's familiar. I think
from Scotland. I think that's where the name
comes from. Cool. I'm not sure. Actually, they
moved to Canada. They were Canadians who immigrated,
immigrated, immigrated across into the state
of Washington. And my family had the first turnstile
dairy farm. What are you talking about? In the
entire state of Washington. How can I not, how
have I not heard this? I'm about to be part of
your family. We need to talk to my dad. He loves
these stories. Okay, yeah. I'd like to hear.
Yeah. He knows them much better than I do. Yeah.
All right. I like that. He should put that in
our Bailey Bulletin for July. Anyway, no usable
harbors, but there are two false harbors and
these are just indents that are lined with reefs.
And so if you entered it, your ship, you would
crash. Gigs up. Yeah, like if you think it's
a different harbor and you're like, oh good,
and you pull in, then you're... It's doomsday.
Can't back out. Yeah. Lewis believed a light
at Little River would prevent any additional
fatal disasters caused by mariners mistaking
these false harbors for Little River, which is
where you wanted people to show up. And so. So
what's that town? I can't see. Cutler. Cutler.
So the Little River is on a small island accessing
a bay, a harbor for Cutler. It's yeah. It's not
the false one. Yeah. It's the one. That is accessible.
Yeah. But that's what they're saying between
Little River where you would want to harbor and
West Quaddy where you'd want to harbor. There's
nothing in between. So they would mistake it.
Like Little River wasn't marked. So they're like,
it's one of these. Yeah. Yeah. So I drive home
every day. And he described it as, quote, easy
of access, sufficiently. Capacious. Yeah. For
a large fleet. It has capacity, yeah. And secured
from all winds. So a nice little harbor. I don't
believe that. I'm from Kansas. Are you kidding?
Everywhere's windy. That's not true. There's
lots of places that are harbored from winds.
I haven't seen them. And it's always still and
like humid and sticky. And you're like, where's
the breeze? You know. If you agree with me, like
this podcast. And what about me? Love this podcast.
We don't have social media. Try it. Okay. Congress
appropriated $5 ,000 for a lighthouse per Lewis's
request in 1847. And this was for our Little
River Lighthouse, which is what we're covering.
Let's go. So it is a conical 23 and a half foot
stone tower with an attached keeper's house at
the entrance to the harbor on a little island.
Is it technically... Whoa. I was going to say,
is it technically an integral lighthouse? Because
you said they're attached. Yes. I would say by
my observation in this photo, absolutely. Yeah,
I would say so. It's the definition of integral.
It is integral, but the tower is so different
from the actual house. Like normally they look
kind of similar. It looks like they're attached.
But this is like the used. The construction is
different for sure. Yeah. Like our white tower.
Is it like a limestone building? I didn't know.
It just says stone. I bet you. Both are stone.
So it's pretty cute. I don't know what's going
on all in the background. Like are these rocks?
Are these sticks? It looks like a timber yard.
Yeah, it looks like a mess. They cut down all
those trees to build stuff. Oh, you're right.
Some stumps over there. Like a mill area. Maybe
to furnish the inside to do the framing and the
wood floors and walls and all that. I don't know.
Very pretty keeper's house though. Really nice.
It's really appealing. Great photo. Only two
years after it was lit and inspection revealed
the dwelling was in terrible shape. Leaking,
cracked, flooded when it rained the whole shebang.
Two years? After two years. Jeez. They talked
about how when it rained the keeper's floor would
literally be covered with water. The house would
flood from rain. That's not good. Yeah, it's
dumb. But they didn't do anything about that.
It definitely had mold. Ew. So maybe they didn't
have much wood. Maybe it was like mostly stone.
Because it survived for a long time regardless
of that fact. And they didn't do anything. You
can replace the wood. I don't know. Oh, really?
Yeah. Like framework and stuff? Yeah, it's just
labor intensive and expensive. However, a fifth
order revolving lens was added in 1855. Before
this, they just had like five reflector lens
with lamps. And this changed the characteristic
to have a fixed white light with a bright flash
every 90 seconds. So this is the second lighthouse
we've covered. I'm pretty sure in a row where
they have a fixed white light that adds a flash.
To be honest, that's the most practical. It does
at any time you can see it. You want to. Yeah.
And then it's still relaying. a pattern in which
you're like oh yeah that's that that's that lighthouse
yeah i agree with that so i pulled up a photo
of the fifth order lens nowadays it's um it's
whereabouts are unknown someone's somebody's
living room basement but can you imagine walking
down into a basement bar pool table dartboard
like give me that bourbon collection and then
a fresnel lens I'd be so excited. Well, I'd be
excited, and then I would take it from them.
I'd be like, return this. Wherever it goes, we're
going to find out. Give this to the public. We've
learned in the past how to tell, if you're lucky,
how to tell which lens goes where because of
the placement of the screws. Yeah, that was a
photo. Someone saw a photo of a lantern, right?
Saw it in a shop, I think. Oh, and they identified
it to an old photo. Yeah, compared the two photos.
Based on the brass placement of screws in the
brackets, which is incredible. That is quite
crazy. So fifth order. Yeah, so this is fifth
order. It was added and changed the light characteristic.
And it wasn't until 1876 that they started laying
a new foundation for a brand new tower, as the
old one was, quote, unworthy of repairs. That's
an okay life, 70 years. It's not bad. Is it 70?
Well, it was 1805, I thought. 1847. Oh, excuse
me. Never mind. So 30 years. Still solid for
one that two years after they were like, this
is terrible. So that was a long, that's kind
of a long story. So the new tower was 41 feet
tall, lined with brick and encased in cast iron.
Cool. It started out white, but was painted red
with a black lantern room in 1878. Sounds cool.
Red with a black lantern room. Yeah. And we don't
have a picture of the two set, like. The two
paint marks? Because for a few years, the old
tower and the new tower were both there. And
then they finally, a year after that, so 1879,
the old tower was half demolished and then roofed
over to like meld into the old keeper's house.
So you can see over here. Yeah, they just like
cut the tower off. We'll just turn this into
the library. Extended the roof. Oh my gosh, that
would be so cool. But you can see the lighthouse
that they have here looks a lot like Nauset light.
So like, yeah. Well, and that was part of the,
part of the design. We see that recurring a lot
was stone or brick towers with this encasing
of cast iron, which they do in these, you know,
here it looks like rings, but sometimes they're
just sections. They're welded together, bolted
together. And in the U S those have had pretty
good longevity. A lot of them are still around
to work really well. Uh, there's been a lot of
cases of them taking the cast iron casing and
putting it elsewhere. So it, I think it made
it more, uh, flexible. Yeah. And they're really
nice too. It's not like it was some replacement
that wasn't exciting. Yeah. Like we lost that
light was gorgeous. And we love skeletal towers,
but those are like easier. I think these were
a little more artistic touch. Yes, exactly. A
little more old fashioned. Stout. Yeah. So we
get a new tower and the old tower is melded in
to the old keeper's tower. And very, it's like.
It's part of the house. It's unique. You can't
really, let's knock this wall down for no reason.
Yeah. You know, so. And when I saw this picture,
I was like, oh, weird. The lighthouse tower is
gone. And then I looked at it a little longer
because it looks like it could just be like the
flat end of the light of the keeper's house.
But. They actually built a roof line over it
too. I know. It's pretty cute. Cool. I'd be so
curious to see what that's like on the inside.
I know it's gone now. Dang. Also, how much would
that cost for us to build? An exact replica of
the old Little River Keeper's house. What's the,
I'm getting off track, I'm sorry, but the bar
in Homer on the spit. Yeah. The Salty Dog Saloon.
Salty Dog. So that, I think, has an integral
lighthouse. I think it's part of that building.
And I think if we go look at pictures, maybe
if we get bored at the end, we'll look. Otherwise,
search on your own. Salty Dog Saloon. I think
I looked on like Google images. There's a pool
table. And I think the part of the integral lighthouse
is like in that billiards area. Oh, I think you're
right. That the pool room is on the base level
of the lighthouse. And then going up is kind
of, I thought it was blocked off. I think it's
probably not accessible. Yeah, it is integral.
That was one of my favorite episodes. Salty Dog
Saloon. Yeah. Well, and you were also going to
be, like, had a chance of going there, so. Someday.
One of these days. Anyway, yes, it is kind of
Salty Dog. The original is kind of Salty Dog
-esque. Not a true lighthouse, but. Sidetracked.
It was on the list. Yeah. So by 1881, the tower
was white again. So this picture was likely after
that time period. And in 1888, the stone dwelling
was demolished, replaced with today's wooden
Victorian dwelling. So the one that we have today
is still really old. It's just not the original.
I have a picture of when they were working on
that. We got an oxen in there. Cool. But yeah,
it's small, cute, and nice. It's very Victorian.
Yeah. It's nice. Looks like we're looking at...
I want to say the left side or the side, like
plan facing plan West. So as we were seeing it
before, cause the tower was on the left. Now
the tower is on the left again, but I think we
are off towards the right standing facing left.
Oh, like cause that the reference to the window
and stuff, who cares? Like it's the side of the
house. I think this is the side, not the front.
I bet so. And then that's like a back door. Back
door porch type of thing. But in this picture,
you can tell the lighthouse is not white. They
painted it brown. It's an interesting choice.
Aggressive. I know. And on May 1900, the tower
was changed back to white and remains white today.
So they did like this random. I don't understand.
Every lighthouse we talk about, we talk about
how the day mark has changed. And sometimes it's
like, well, it was orange with a black stripe.
And then it was red and white. And then they
noticed that against the trees or against the
sky. What is the reason to go brown? Brown is
very interesting. And then someone, enough time
goes, and they're like, we should really make
it white. We should make it white. Well, let's
go back. Totally different than we have. I have
no idea what would make them want to change it
to brown. But white kept coming back, so just
keep white. It's okay if they're all the same
color. Yeah. I mean, ideally, you want them to
be a little different. Imagine if Ocracoke was
not white. It would be so strange. It would be
strange. You know, like some lighthouses are
supposed to not set red. Yeah. Red? White. Red
accent. Half red, yeah. Yeah. Anyways. Sorry.
That's a big block by that oxen. Big stone. He's
hauling some stuff. Poor guy. All kinds of construction.
Debris. Things going on in this picture. But
yeah. One of the keeper's sons mentioned how
they got coal to the lighthouse in the 30s. I
thought this was interesting because we haven't
talked about that much. For the stove? Coal access,
yeah. For the keeper's living, not so much for
the use of the lighthouse. The coal was delivered
by boat in 200 -pound bags. And then they would
take the bags and drop them onto someone's shoulders
standing next to the boat. And they had to walk
that bag. over the beach to the lighthouse. Oh
my gosh. And it was just the keeper and his family.
Nobody else lives on this island, so they just
had to do this hard manual labor. They're like
deadlifting every day to train for this. And
they would do it over and over until eight to
nine tons of coal was dropped off by the coal
house. 200 pounds. 200 pounds each, back and
forth. And he was saying the island is shaped
like a hill, so you had to go uphill and downhill
just to get it. On sand. Just to get it over
there. That would be an incredible workout. I
know. Yeah, they would have had to have been.
He said, quote, every bone -wearing step of the
way across this humpbacked bit of detached terra
firma found one's mind filled with the desire
for an easier way out. Like, drama. It's so funny.
There's jobs that require manual labor, like
in the United States. We have... I think it's
labor laws. I don't actually know. But there's
some jobs where I've had to do a test to prove
I can move the reasonable amount of weight. But
it's usually like capped at 50 pounds. It's 50
pounds. Okay. Or maybe 60. Yeah. So that's the
standard expectation is a healthy, uninjured
person can manage 50, maybe 60 pounds. Yeah.
Especially like package delivery. I think they
always have to do that too. This guy, 200 pounds.
200 pounds. Lowered onto your shoulders. And
you're going to carry it across sand, uphill,
who knows how many times. My ankle would go out.
Yeah. I could just see myself twisting my ankle.
Like pitted sand. Yeah, yeah. It'd be really
challenging. That's crazy. At least the keeper
had some sons to assist him with this task. But
I think either way, collecting nine tons of coal
is wild. Didn't drag it. Probably couldn't. Probably
would tear open or something. So did they talk
about the use of the coal? No, not much. I think
it was just for their stoves and stuff. So you
said nine. They had a coal house. Nine tons.
Yeah. So 18 ,000 pounds, roughly. 200 goes into
1 ,000 five times. So five trips gets you 1 ,000
pounds. And they're going to do 18 ,000 pounds
of coal? So what's 18 times five? 90, 90 trips.
That's crazy. It'd be an all day endeavor. And
that's assuming. Well, and that's like, there's
several people. Yeah, true. There's several people
involved. So maybe a little quicker, but still
that's like a whole, and they only do that once
a year. So I think it was just like this dreaded
day of torture. Dang. I'd be like, is there really
no other way to make this easier on me? I'm just
a guy with family, you know? That's awful. Yeah.
I've never heard anything about that. So it was
very interesting. But he also talked about getting
to school, another thing that isn't thought about
much. As the keeper and the family were the only
ones on the island. So he said, quote, Going
to school meant a boat ride every morning and
afternoon when Papa would ferry them over to
the mainland and back. A lunch would be packed
for each child consisting of a piece of fish,
a cold potato, and maybe a molasses cookie or
Johnny Brand. I don't know what Johnny Brand
is. I don't either. Water was dipped out of the
well bucket to wash it all down. Weather, of
course, was a factor. And there were days when
it was too rough to row the children to school
or days when it was too rough to pick them up.
Arrangements for the latter situation were already
taken care of when the children would stay with
assigned families on shore. That's so crazy.
What a life. I never considered not being able
to get them back. I'm like, oh, they just miss
a day of school. And you have a good excuse because
it's like I live on an island. Yeah. My dad has
to row me over in a boat. Yeah. But getting on
the way home, you're just like, oh, I'm just
going to stay with this family. That's crazy.
Really crazy times. Crazy different times from
what we're living in today. Yes. Quite a few
things have changed. And I think he had a bunch.
I think he wrote a book or something because
there was a bunch of different stories about
living at the lighthouse, which a lot of keepers'
kids do write about what it was like because
it's so novel. Well, and you have time. Yeah.
Honestly. Back then, especially. So the Coast
Guard took over 1939, and they continued to have
Coast Guard men stationed there. And this is
from Lighthouse Friends. I just took a whole
quote from here because sometimes I don't need
to reword it. Yeah, they're a great source. Yeah.
Quote, Upon being brought to the island by Bob
Marston, Coast Guard Keeper Albert was greeted
on the station's boardwalk by Bob's Beagle. And
he said, after I was shown my room, there was
a 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. He said, I knew
then that I was in a pretty special place. He
said the raccoon's name was Rocky and a couple
gifted the animal to a member of the station
in 1971. And that Christmas, Gary Sill noted
that the fact the station's dog, Skippy, played
with Rocky a lot of the time demonstrated the
ability of people to live and work together under
close living conditions. And the station was
also home to three cats that Christmas, Junior,
Stubb, and Black Cat. I was like, I've got to
put that last sentence in there. Those are good
pet names. Cats, raccoons. Skippy and Rocky,
the dog and raccoon. Yeah. Rocky the raccoon,
which is a... Oh, my gosh. It was a magazine
I used to get. Rocky the Raccoon? Wait, let me
double check. Maybe it was made by this person.
Oh, no, excuse me. It was Ranger Rick. What was
I thinking? That's not close. It's not even close.
Thanks. I agree, but also, thank you. And you
had Black Cat Stub, who probably had a cut -off
tail. Black Cat Stub, yeah, or one leg or something,
and Junior. Junior. Probably a kitten that showed
up. That's awesome. I know. The station was automated
in 1975 and the Fresnelans was removed. And this
is when we lost track of the Fresnelans. Shoot.
We have no idea where it is today. A light was
erected on a skeletal tower nearby. Not like
a lighthouse, but just like. Yeah, signal light.
And Little River Lighthouse was left alone to
deteriorate. And in 1993, the government offered
the lighthouse to the town of Cutler, who didn't
want it. And the lighthouse and the island were
also offered to the state of Maine. The National
Park Service and U .S. Fish and Wildlife and
all declined, saying that the lighthouse would
cost way too much money to restore and maintain.
Yeah. So, like, our lighthouse was in trouble.
It was offered up for adoption under the Maine
Lights Program, 1998, we've talked about, but
no one stepped forward to take ownership. And
in the fall, the Maine Historic Preservation
declared that the Little River Light Station
was one of the 10 most endangered historic properties
in the state. So it was like going down. Yeah,
on record. Yeah, 1975, it was turned off and
then left. So that's decades of just sitting
there with nothing. But in 2001, the American
Lighthouse Foundation stepped up and got a historic
preservation license from the Coast Guard. And
they restored the tower, a wooden walkway that
went across the island, and the boat ramp, which
then made the station meet the criteria for getting
a new light from the Coast Guard in the lantern.
Oh, yeah. So apparently they have some criteria
that have to be met in order for them to sustain
a light in the tower. Cool photo. The walkway
that goes through the island, which is pretty
neat. It's really nice. Made of wood. At first
I thought it was like a train track, but yeah,
it's a walkway. And then I have another picture
of their, there's a Coast Guard helicopter. And
this picture is when they did the relighting
ceremony. So they made it this big thing because
the lighthouse was really just weeks after the
9 -11 attacks. And so they draped it with a 25
-foot American flag and called it a beacon of
freedom to the world to be relit. And it was
filmed as a documentary for the History Channel,
which I couldn't find. Oh. I couldn't find it.
I want to see that. I do too. I know I was like,
oh, it'll pop up, but I just couldn't track it
down. And apparently it was the largest gathering
in the town's history for this relighting ceremony
on the island. which is fun. Everybody had their
little boats going over. When, what was the date?
Do you know? Post 9 -11. It was in October. I
can't remember exactly the date. So those were,
I mean, most people listening know this because
they're older than us or our age. But, you know,
post 9 -11, I didn't really pay attention because
I was too young, but I've seen footage of like
the first NFL game, the first MLB game. The after
9 -11. Yeah. When things were trying to resume
because everything stopped. And I think it was
a Monday if I remember right. I think so too.
But I was five or six. So I don't remember everything.
But there was a lot of, it was almost you had
to, you know, pay tribute to what was going on
in the United States and the deeply hurt. Emotion
that everybody had. Who had survived the several
attacks. Right. Yeah. Almost everyone. But almost
everyone was feeling that. And it was like. Just
overwhelming. There's no other news. You know.
Yeah. And so. If this lighting was going on.
It's really interesting. Yeah. Post 9 -11. That's
a big flag. I know. It's huge. But. 25 feet is
crazy. Yeah. People needed. They needed something
like this to go out to. People needed community.
They needed to like lean on each other. So I
think the, everyone keeping it in the forefront
was important. Not just being like, okay, let's
just continue. Like nothing happened. Yeah. Nope.
Or just cancel everything. Yeah. Like, oh, we
can't have the relighting ceremony. Scared and
sad. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. I'm lucky enough not
to remember anything from that, but I do try
to learn about it every year because it's important.
I've gone back and watched collected footage,
not for horror, just to understand what it was
like because my whole family is older and they
all had a different impact than I did. But it's
very sad. One of the best documented terrible
events. There's awful things that have happened
all through history, but to have such a good
record of it is really interesting. Yeah, I know.
Just whenever like film was very, a lot more
commonplace, like getting really easy to have
your hands on, like everyone's filming everywhere.
It's not like not even close to today, but you
know, that's. Yeah, you're right though. Mobile
cameras. Camcorders and things. Anyway. Anyway.
A year later, 2002, the lighthouse became the
first New England light and third in the nation
to be transferred to a nonprofit under the National
Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.
Third in the US? Wow. Cool. So it didn't catch
on super quick. They're ready to go. The paperwork
made it lengthy. But yeah, they were definitely
ready. I mean, the American Lighthouse Foundation
already had a license to like. restore it so
i'm sure the coast guard was like here please
take it and the friends of little river lighthouse
was formed as a chapter of the american lighthouse
foundation in 2007 to like take control of maintenance
and stuff on this lighthouse in 2014 the lighthouse
underwent a repainting project restoring its
glowing white paint and a forest green lantern
room And I could never find when they started
painting this lantern room green because it's
not like aged copper. If you look at it today,
it's mint green. It looks like the Statue of
Liberty aged copper, but it's not. It's painted
that way. So they painted it this dark, like
rich green. But as it ages, it turns mint green.
So today it takes away. Also, what? What? There's
literally forest behind the lighthouse. There
are evergreen trees. And we just talked about
day marks. They're like, well, you can see the
tower. You don't need to see the lantern room.
You don't need to see the top of this thing.
It's going to have a light. I don't understand.
I mean, stylistically, very cool. Beautiful.
And there's some green over on the house. It
looks like green trim. I think that's black.
I can't tell. Maybe my screen is turned all the
way up. Three feet is too far for you to see.
We've established. But I don't know that I know
of another Green Lantern room. I have not heard
of it. No. That's why I selected this one. Because
I was like, it's green. Hip hip. Nowadays, you
can pay to stay at the lighthouse. So this is
one of those that's like on main open lighthouse
day, you can come and see it for free. But normally.
You can only come see it if you're paying to
stay in the lighthouse. Or they have an open
house day, which are just like sporadically placed
throughout the year. Keeper's House is fully
restored with three rooms and one bath for up
to six visitors. So you rent by the room, or
you can rent the entire thing. Each room is $400
per room, unless you get more than one room,
and then there's $350 a piece, or $1 ,100 for
the whole place. And you can stay between June
1st and September 30th. That's awesome. That'd
be super fun. So like I said, they're participating
in Open Lighthouse Day. And I pulled up a couple
pictures. You can see how it's mint green now,
the Lantern Room. Just naturally, the sun just
wears it out. And inside the Lantern Room, you
can also see, which is the only way to get up
there is through their open events. They have
transportation available from Cutlerstown Landing,
which is a 12 -minute boat ride. So they'll come
pick you up on open lighthouse day to take you
to the island and come back. And you can use
the walkway to get there. And they also have
open house days throughout the year for the same
opportunity, but the lighthouse is not usually
open to visitors otherwise. And I read that you
can't see the lighthouse from the mainland, which
seems unlikely, at least in the town. So like
the only way. It's on the other side. Or like
it's difficult to get there. Maybe it's private
property all the way around. I don't know. Sure.
They're saying like the only way to get there
is to take a boat out or to specifically visit
the lighthouse. So if you were to rent it, is
there boat transportation? Yes. They pick you
up from Cutler's. That's the same. Cool. Yeah.
Really cool. It's very beautiful little island.
Yeah. I mean, I think it's pretty small, but
it's. Rocky and lots of trees, lots of evergreen.
The images are really great today. Usually that's
more of my focus. Emily doesn't focus as much
on that. Excuse me? Because of YouTube. Who are
you talking to? So if you want to see the images
from today, even if you don't want to listen
to the whole thing over again, go to our YouTube.
You can click through and you should be able
to all have each of the images up for the time
that we're talking about it, which is standard.
Nice. But are they going to be on Instagram by
chance? No, I've completely dropped Instagram.
So don't look on Instagram. I totally abandoned
it. Yeah. All good. Apparently that was the stone.
We are podcast firsts. Yeah, that's true. Whatever.
Podcast first. He's going down. Both need a nap.
But that's all I got. Little River Lighthouse.
Never messed up the name. Didn't mess up the
name once. Little River Lighthouse. Give me some
credit for that. I thought for sure that I was
going to butcher it at some point. Little Liver.
Liver never came out. Yeah, Liver. Right House
never came out. Yeah, we powered through. Really
good. That is a cute little lighthouse. Very,
it looks just like Nauset Light and has a minty
lantern room. Don't know when that happened,
but. Originally, I think it was white and black
and red and black and all that. They're like,
we could use green. Might as well. Sold. If you
want to be the only one, you should. Can you
go up there if you stay the night to the lantern
room? Yes, the lantern room, yeah. That's cool.
I know. Now I want to go. Well, it's a constant
bucket list items. Yeah, $400 is not that crazy
for a room. Yeah. There's a lot of lighthouses
we've seen that it's pretty steep. It sounds
like you can only, if you rent one room, there
may be other guests. Yes. So you'd share that
one bathroom. Yeah, that's true. Which is very
practical for a lighthouse on an island. It does
make sense. You're not staying there for a long
time. We just have to buy the whole thing out.
Yeah, that's it. Really cool. Thank you for sharing.
You're welcome. And thanks everybody for listening.
Check out our website, thelighthouselowdown .com.
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