A lady once asked me if I was interest in lighthouses.
My reply was “Some of them.”
After she offered a puzzled look, I had no choice but to explain. There are certain lighthouses I care about, specifically the Rockland Breakwater and Goose Rocks Lighthouse – as well as a few others. My grandfather and great grandfather served both of those stations respectively. If I’m perusing various gift shops for lighthouse items, as I was that day when the saleslady asked (and probably regretted doing so), that’s likely what I’m looking for.
Today, I made my annual pilgrimage to Goose Rocks in the Fox Island Thorofare, the channel that runs between North Haven and Vinalhaven. It seems as though my summer isn’t quite complete until I’ve travelled the 15 miles or so out to sea to visit a key part of my family history. My great grandfather was the longest serving keeper there, from the early or mid 1890’s to around 1920.
The Rockland Breakwater I see all the time. I see it when I drive into town for errands. I see it when I walk the mile long Breakwater, something I do quite often over the course of the season.
Getting to Goose Rocks, however, is a bit more problematic. I pretty much have to rely on a trip in my brother’s boat or hope we pass it while on my September sail on the Victory Chimes, something we often do. My first trip out there was actually in my cousin’s lobster boat. He hauled out and boatload of Millses for a quick visit.
This lighthouse is pretty unique in and of itself. It’s a sparkplug light and it is stuck in the middle of the channel. It sits on a submerged ledge. The only access is by boat, and you need to scale a ladder to get up onto the deck. It looks just like Spring Point Light in South Portland, but there’s no candy ass breakwater for people to walk out to it on.
What makes it special to me is what it means to our family history and how my own life unfolded. I’m convinced that that lighthouse set the stage for my life to play out the way it has, to some extent. Had my great grandfather never served there, my grandfather likely never would have settled in Rockland. He wouldn’t have married a St. George girl and my father wouldn’t have been born or at least grown up in Rockland where he met my mother. I probably wouldn’t be sitting here or own in a seaside cottage that my parents bought around 1950 in hopes of visiting their parents in Rockland during the summer.
I don’t get the same charged up excitement I had when I would first go out to see the lighthouse. My first trip was actually a ferry ride to North Haven. There we met up with a woman that gave us a tour of the island and provided us a great view of the lighthouse from the land. My next goal was to get close enough to the lighthouse to touch it.
Sure enough, a year later or so, my cousin took us out there, after he took many of his own family out there. I’ve been out there three times with my brother since and by it on the Victory Chimes a half dozen or so times. I also went out there when the government was selling it.
I even considered trying to buy it. My wallet thought better of it. So did my common sense. I figured since it would be a hassle just to get my guitar up that ladder there might be other more important items that might be even more problematic, especially since I didn’t own a boat.
I knew a girl I dated once that lived on Vinalhaven. I couldn’t help but wonder what she would have thought had I bought the lighthouse and word got around enough for her to realize I had bought it and could be seen sitting in an easy chair, cranking Smithereens tunes and waving at passing vessels. She’d have been shaking her head and thinking it’s a shame how fast I had lost my mind.
Anyway, now I’m delegated to visiting it on occasion. I’m not so much in awe of it as I once was but I still love going out there and seeing it. When I made that first trip in my cousin’s lobster boat two members of the family made the comment “Who’d want to live out here?” Meanwhile, I was thinking “Wouldn’t I love to live out here!”
I’ve been inside it a couple of times and hope to get a chance to stay overnight there sometime. The new owners, Beacon Preservation Inc., offer visits for donations for the lighthouse’s preservation. They’ve recently put up a new exhibit highlighting the light’s history at the Rockland Lighthouse Museum. Most of the photos on display are ones I provided and included a whole generation of Millses.
Of course, my picture isn’t one of them. But they were nice enough to put the cover of my novel on the display. We’ll be updating the display next week with items of my great grandfather and maybe even a copy of my book, which is loosely based on my great grandfather’s life before he joined the United States Lighthouse Service. Go to www.kevincmills.com for more info.
Today’s trip couldn’t have been better. We had calm seas all the way out. We passed seals and porpoises on the way, and made great time through the Thorofare. We got to the light and dropped anchor and just sat there and looked at the light and watched vessels go by. One of my Douglass ancestors, my great grandmother’s family, owned Burnt Island at one time, which is just beyond the lighthouse in the Little Thorofare. And my grandfather worked summers on Widow’s Island, which is across the Thorofare from the lighthouse, when there was a hospital there.
Just like when I take my walks out to the Breakwater, I can’t help but feel in touch with my family’s past when I get out to Goose Rocks. It is always a great trip and pleasure to be out there.
Of course, it isn’t like I don’t see the lighthouse when I’m not out there. I only have a couple paintings of it at home and have half a dozen pictures of it here in Owls Head.
And I’m always perusing gift shops for more - just don’t ask me what I’m looking for. I just might tell you.
My reply was “Some of them.”
After she offered a puzzled look, I had no choice but to explain. There are certain lighthouses I care about, specifically the Rockland Breakwater and Goose Rocks Lighthouse – as well as a few others. My grandfather and great grandfather served both of those stations respectively. If I’m perusing various gift shops for lighthouse items, as I was that day when the saleslady asked (and probably regretted doing so), that’s likely what I’m looking for.
Today, I made my annual pilgrimage to Goose Rocks in the Fox Island Thorofare, the channel that runs between North Haven and Vinalhaven. It seems as though my summer isn’t quite complete until I’ve travelled the 15 miles or so out to sea to visit a key part of my family history. My great grandfather was the longest serving keeper there, from the early or mid 1890’s to around 1920.
The Rockland Breakwater I see all the time. I see it when I drive into town for errands. I see it when I walk the mile long Breakwater, something I do quite often over the course of the season.
Getting to Goose Rocks, however, is a bit more problematic. I pretty much have to rely on a trip in my brother’s boat or hope we pass it while on my September sail on the Victory Chimes, something we often do. My first trip out there was actually in my cousin’s lobster boat. He hauled out and boatload of Millses for a quick visit.
This lighthouse is pretty unique in and of itself. It’s a sparkplug light and it is stuck in the middle of the channel. It sits on a submerged ledge. The only access is by boat, and you need to scale a ladder to get up onto the deck. It looks just like Spring Point Light in South Portland, but there’s no candy ass breakwater for people to walk out to it on.
What makes it special to me is what it means to our family history and how my own life unfolded. I’m convinced that that lighthouse set the stage for my life to play out the way it has, to some extent. Had my great grandfather never served there, my grandfather likely never would have settled in Rockland. He wouldn’t have married a St. George girl and my father wouldn’t have been born or at least grown up in Rockland where he met my mother. I probably wouldn’t be sitting here or own in a seaside cottage that my parents bought around 1950 in hopes of visiting their parents in Rockland during the summer.
I don’t get the same charged up excitement I had when I would first go out to see the lighthouse. My first trip was actually a ferry ride to North Haven. There we met up with a woman that gave us a tour of the island and provided us a great view of the lighthouse from the land. My next goal was to get close enough to the lighthouse to touch it.
Sure enough, a year later or so, my cousin took us out there, after he took many of his own family out there. I’ve been out there three times with my brother since and by it on the Victory Chimes a half dozen or so times. I also went out there when the government was selling it.
I even considered trying to buy it. My wallet thought better of it. So did my common sense. I figured since it would be a hassle just to get my guitar up that ladder there might be other more important items that might be even more problematic, especially since I didn’t own a boat.
I knew a girl I dated once that lived on Vinalhaven. I couldn’t help but wonder what she would have thought had I bought the lighthouse and word got around enough for her to realize I had bought it and could be seen sitting in an easy chair, cranking Smithereens tunes and waving at passing vessels. She’d have been shaking her head and thinking it’s a shame how fast I had lost my mind.
Anyway, now I’m delegated to visiting it on occasion. I’m not so much in awe of it as I once was but I still love going out there and seeing it. When I made that first trip in my cousin’s lobster boat two members of the family made the comment “Who’d want to live out here?” Meanwhile, I was thinking “Wouldn’t I love to live out here!”
I’ve been inside it a couple of times and hope to get a chance to stay overnight there sometime. The new owners, Beacon Preservation Inc., offer visits for donations for the lighthouse’s preservation. They’ve recently put up a new exhibit highlighting the light’s history at the Rockland Lighthouse Museum. Most of the photos on display are ones I provided and included a whole generation of Millses.
Of course, my picture isn’t one of them. But they were nice enough to put the cover of my novel on the display. We’ll be updating the display next week with items of my great grandfather and maybe even a copy of my book, which is loosely based on my great grandfather’s life before he joined the United States Lighthouse Service. Go to www.kevincmills.com for more info.
Today’s trip couldn’t have been better. We had calm seas all the way out. We passed seals and porpoises on the way, and made great time through the Thorofare. We got to the light and dropped anchor and just sat there and looked at the light and watched vessels go by. One of my Douglass ancestors, my great grandmother’s family, owned Burnt Island at one time, which is just beyond the lighthouse in the Little Thorofare. And my grandfather worked summers on Widow’s Island, which is across the Thorofare from the lighthouse, when there was a hospital there.
Just like when I take my walks out to the Breakwater, I can’t help but feel in touch with my family’s past when I get out to Goose Rocks. It is always a great trip and pleasure to be out there.
Of course, it isn’t like I don’t see the lighthouse when I’m not out there. I only have a couple paintings of it at home and have half a dozen pictures of it here in Owls Head.
And I’m always perusing gift shops for more - just don’t ask me what I’m looking for. I just might tell you.
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