The period of lighthouse keepers at Rockland Breakwater
began in 1888 with a part time keeper that tended
the beacon and ended when the last Coast Guard personnel
left the lighthouse in 1965. The first keepers were
members of the civilian U. S. Lighthouse Service,
founded in 1789 and one of the oldest Federal Government
organizations. In 1939, the U. S. Coast Guard assumed
responsibility for all lighthouses and the U. S. Lighthouse
Service was dissolved. At that time, lighthouse keepers
either remained as civilian Coast Guard employees
or became military personnel. All new keepers were
military personnel and by the mid 1960’s all
civilian keepers had resigned or retired.
From
1888 until 1902, one part time keeper was assigned
to tend the beacon at the outer end of the breakwater
as it was under construction. When the Rockland Breakwater
Lighthouse was completed in 1902, a keeper and an
assistant keeper were assigned to man the light and
fog signal. The assistant keeper was required due
to the additional equipment associated with the fog
signal. The keeper’s families lived ashore because
the small four-room dwelling was too small to accommodate
two families. The keepers received a modest housing
allowance for their family in addition to their annual
salary.
After
July 1, 1939, when U. S. Coast Guard assumed responsibility
for lighthouses, the keepers at Rockland Breakwater
Lighthouse remained civilians until the incumbent
keeper transferred to military status in June 1942.
Later in 1942, additional Coast Guard military personnel
were assigned to the lighthouse for lookout and security
duty. They remained until mid 1944. By then the last
civilian assistant keeper had been transferred. By
the end of WW II, the compliment at the lighthouse
consisted of the military Officer-in-Charge, as the
keeper was now known, and two additional military
“assistant keepers”.
In
the post WW II Coast Guard period, the rotation of
the Officer-in-Charge and especially the “assistant
keepers” was more rapid than under the civilian
Lighthouse Service and the “keeper” list
is quite long and still not complete. Also, after
WW II, the Coast Guard began a program to automate
lighthouses and remove the keepers so by early 1965
the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse keepers were gone.
In
1998, the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse was conveyer
to the City of Rockland and in 1999; The Friends of
the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse was formed as a
non-profit organization to take up the duties of the
new “keepers”. The Coast Guard however,
still operates the light and fog signal as an active
aid to navigation. Today “The Friends”
are raising funds and working to restore the lighthouse,
to open it to visitors and to interpret it as a historic
site.
The
lists of the known Keepers, Assistant Keepers and
Officers-in-Charge are available as links. If you
see a familiar name or a relative or know of someone
we have missed please contact the historian at historian@rocklandlighthouse.com
and let us know. |
