“They worked hard, were paid poorly and were completely isolated,” she says. MacDonald takes inspiration from the particular kind of woman it took to be a lighthouse keeper. For many people, lighthouses conjure up romantic notions, but Dr. Her parents met when her grandfather was assigned to work at a lighthouse in her hometown of Cape Breton. She grew up in Nova Scotia, a Canadian province with 150 postcard picture-perfect lighthouses scattered along its coastline. MacDonald’s personal interest in lighthouses has deep roots. John Walker made his dying declaration to his wife: “Mind the light, Kate.” And for 30 years, from 1886 to 1919, Kate Walker “manned” Robbins Reef Lighthouse in New York Harbor until she retired at age 73.ĭr. And if some sort of tragedy would befall the paid keeper, often the daughters or the wives took over.
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“But the truth is, if you were of a lower class, then everyone had a job.”Īlthough they weren’t always the official paid keepers, quite a few women learned how to keep the light on because they were helping their husbands or fathers, according to Dr. “We often think about that as a time when women didn’t work,” she says. MacDonald, they shine a light on what it meant to be a woman in the 18th and 19th century in the US. Coast Guard called her tenure as lighthouse keeper a “lifetime of service,” adding, “She proved that women performed with distinction-whether the job at hand was harrowing or dutifully and diligently routine.” In 2014, a ceremony took place at Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport to dedicate the grave marker of this extraordinary woman, whose acts of bravery over a century ago remain their own beacon of light to all charged with the challenging tasks of service to others.Įmily Clark is a freelance writer and an English and Journalism teacher at Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge.Lighthouses represent more than a beacon of safety to Shauna MacDonald, PhD, associate professor of Communication (Performance Studies) and co-director of the Gender and Women's Studies Program. Honoring Kate Moore, Vice Admiral Sally Brice-O’Hara of the U.S. If anyone encroached on her island home, she was known to take her shotgun, point it at the trespassers, and yell, “I represent the United States government and you’ve got to go!” Such ardent commitment eventually earned Moore a place in the history of not only Bridgeport’s Black Rock neighborhood but also the United States Coast Guard, securing her legacy at Fayerweather Lighthouse.
Steadfast and protective of her property and lighthouse, Moore also had the responsibility of warding off strangers. Kate Moore Memorial, Bridgeport – Photo by Author Lack of recognition did not hinder her dedication to this all-encompassing job, one that has become synonymous with her life and one that she took seriously, not because she was a woman in a male-dominated position but because she had loyalty to her work, her country, and those whom she worked to safeguard. This came some 50 years after she began her duties. Coast Guard) until her father’s death in 1871. Moore was unique in her own right though, as she did not receive the authorized title of head lighthouse keeper from the U.S. Kate Moore’s Dedicated Service to Her Country Most of these women were considered assistants or assumed the role upon the death or illness of their husband or father, as Moore did, and were formally recognized for their own service during a time when such employment for women was quite uncommon. government, were some of the first non-secretarial jobs available to women at the time. In the 1800s, Moore was one of a select few, in both Connecticut and around the country, to hold the unique and dangerous position of maintaining a lighthouse along America’s coast. When reflecting on these years of service after her retirement, the 94-year-old Moore told a reporter, “You see, I had done all this for so many years, and I knew no other life, so I was sort of fitted for it.” She took on the role without question, as it was the only one she ever knew. A skilled boater, Moore was recognized for saving 21 lives throughout her decades of service. Tasked with mundane but necessary duties that became the difference between life and death for countless sailors, Moore also braved the fierce storms of Long Island Sound to rescue sailors in peril, sheltered shipwrecked men, located bodies washed ashore during a storm, and kept the light burning each night, even if it meant sleeping alone in her work clothes at the top of the lighthouse. Portrait of Kathleen Moore (unknown date) – United States Coast Guard Service
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