Guardians of the Lights

by Elinor Dewire

In a charming blend of history and human interest, this book paints a colorful portrait of the lives of a vanished breed—the lighthouse keepers—from the year 1716, when the first lighthouse was established in America, to the early 1980s when automation replaced the last human “guardian of the light." A wealth of material from the archives of the 19th and 20th centuries—primarily letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts—provides vivid stories about lighthouse keeping in this the daily work; coping with fog, storms and other catastrophes; legends and ghosts; women's and families' roles; lighthouse children and pets; the natural world around lighthouses; and the diverse characters of those who held the job. Lighthouse keeping was a unique occupation, now obsolete, and this book is a fitting tribute to these tough, usually solitary, and dedicated heroes who kept the lights burning every night, without fail.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

332 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Elinor DeWire (born in Maryland) is an American author, freelance writer, editor, and blogger based in the Puget Sound area of Washington. She holds a B.G.S. in Liberal Arts and an M.A. in Education and teaches at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington.

DeWire writes both fiction and nonfiction, but is best-known for her books about lighthouses and her work in lighthouse preservation and education. She has authored sixteen books on lighthouses and regularly contributes articles about lighthouses to magazines. Her author blog is about lighthouses and related nautical topics, as well as her work as a writer and speaker. She is a popular public speaker known for her entertaining programs on lighthouse history and lore. She volunteers for several nonprofit groups devoted to lighthouse preservation and education. DeWire also has a great interest in astronomy and weather and has authored numerous articles and four books on amateur astronomy and sky watching. She enjoys rural living and has written an e-book on poultry.

Two of her books have been honored with the Ben Franklin Book Award and the Coast Guard Book Award. She won a short fiction prize in 1992 from the National League of American Pen Women and has published fiction in several magazines. She has published several short videos about her books and interests on You Tube. Her newspaper and magazine columns include “Shore Almanac,” “Away from the Bay,” “Kids on the Beam,” and “Liquidized Lore.” From 1991-2000 she wrote “Lifelines” and “Whale Oil and Wicks” for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Mariners Weather Log. Currently, she is a regular contributor to Weatherwise Magazine, The Beachcomber, Lighthouse Digest, and The Keepers Log.

Find Elinor DeWire's blog at www.elinordewire.blogspot.com

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jul 23--Sep 8 2021

[Andreas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Exactly as promised, this book collects a number of stories from various lighthouse keepers’ lives and groups them into sections such as lighthouse pets, lighthouse ghosts, women keepers, etc. I also really appreciated the high amount of historical photographs included. I would recommend this to anyone who is mostly interested in the human aspect of lighthouse keeping

[Josh Liller · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Guardians of the Lights" is a collection of supposedly true stories from various lighthouses throughout the US grouped into chapters by general subjects such as family life, pets, ghosts, and troublesome keepers. Some poems and personal experiences of the author are included. There is no real geographic or chronological focus, although I would say the majority were probably 1800s New England lighthouses.

This book is fine for those with a strong interest in lighthouses and does give a sense of the challenges and dangers keepers faced. Dewire is a fairly easy read and has something of a poetic touch to her writing. However, the topic is so broad and the narrative sometimes prone to wandering that I think it weakens the book a bit. Some of the stories don't have a name attached which makes their reliability suspect in my opinion. Very okay.

[Marieta Grissom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. DeWire took a fresh approach in her book; most of the lighthouse/keeper books I've read have been chronological, but she discussed lighthouse keepers by topic, i.e., responsibilities of the keeper, foghorns, close to nature, storms, fires and accidents, children of the keeper, female keepers, haunted light houses, as well as pets and other animals, and more.

Ms. DeWire took most of her information from other published sources and assembled the information into this new perspective.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in the history of U.S. lighthouses and their keepers, this is a well-researched and informative resource, complete with numerous photos.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this as my great great grandfather was a lighthouse keeper. The book tells stories about some of the lighthouses and keepers in the US, from Maine to California and even Hawaii. It's fascinating stuff. It involves ghosts, madness, families, animals, events, storms, deaths, education and much more. Lighthouse preservation and the lights themselves are also touched upon. One of the lights my relative kept, Bass Harbor Head Light in Maine is pictured within, as are many of the lights. There are no stories of that light, but my family knows some. There must be many stories not in this book. My grandmother and her brother grew up living at the light, as their mother left them at an early age, and their father took them to live with the grandmother and grandfather at the light.

If you are one of those people who enjoy visiting lighthouses, you may like the book and the stories. They aren't individual stories as much as grouped into general themes, more or less. Reading this gives us a new appreciation of what jobs keepers had to do in all kinds of weather and the strains of living on a remote light station. Keepers in the old days were a tough lot, and many women kept lights as well.

[MH · Rating 4 out of 5]

De Wire uses her exhaustive research into logbooks, letters, government documents, and memoirs to tell many brief stories about lighthouse keepers in a book crammed with evocative, grainy photographs. Although the stories often end terribly - keepers die in all manner of natural disaster, suffer the tragic loss of children, murder one another, and even the cheerful section on pets makes a throwaway reference to a family of beloved lighthouse cats being poisoned - De Wire also tells stories of genuine heroism, and her primary sources about this lost and lonely world are sometimes surprisingly moving.

[Jeannette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories from lighthouse keepers that run from ghostly visitors, rescues and those who were less desirable in the performance of their duties. Stories of pets, children and women who supported the men. Female keepers who carried on the duties after the loss of a family member.

A book that belongs in any lighthouse lover's library.

[Julie Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't put it down.

[Vern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, if a little repetitious.