I was always intrigued by lighthouse life – what the keepers and their families had to endure like isolation, drudgery, extreme weather, lack of conveniences.
There were several keepers of the Lloyd Harbor Lighthouse, built in 1857, but Robert McGlone had the longest run at 24 years starting in 1885. His wife died in March 1900 from pneumonia, and he hired a local woman, Augusta “Gussie” Harrigan, to help him take care of the lighthouse and children.
Isabelle, one of the McGlone children, recalls most of her daily life was relentless chores, though sometimes she was able to go out to dig for clams and catch fish. “Looking back on my life at the lighthouse,” said Isabelle, “I can truly say there was little pleasure. It seemed as though there was always work to be done and I was more than ready to tumble into bed as soon as the lamp was lit at sundown. I did miss the delights of childhood. Bleakness and drudgery is what I remember.” Isabelle’s father passed in 1919, and she was finally free to move on from lighthouse living, though poor Gussie remained behind with a shotgun at her side to ward off potential perpetrators until 1934.
But life at the lighthouse wasn’t all dull – keepers had to stay on their toes in case of emergencies. Keeper Marvin Burnham rescued a man and woman from a leaking schooner in Huntington Bay; Emil J. Brunner saved the occupants of a speedboat that lost its wheel near the lighthouse, and also plucked two men from the water who fell overboard from a motorboat; Joseph Dubois rescued a woman and child from an overturned boat.
The original Lloyd Harbor Lighthouse succumbed to a fire in 1947 and was replaced by the Huntington Harbor Lighthouse built nearby. You can read the full history here: https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=747
Photo courtesy of the Suffolk County Historical Society.
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