This is the second in a series of articles about my recently completed historical novel, If the Sea Must Be Your Home, the true story of a seafaring family in the 1800s. The story also transports you into the world of lighthouse keepers, a role now relegated to history. Many more souls would have been lost along the rocky shores of New England without the keepers of the light.
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Sandy Neck Lighthouse, circa 1859, courtesy of Ken Mortin. There are no known images of the original Sandy Neck Lighthouse, built in 1826.
Solitude came with the job description for lighthouse keepers in the 1800s, along with vigilence, strength and the ability to endure extreme conditions without respite. Unlike the sailors they protected, who were ceaselessly in motion, keepers of the light stood solid as a rock, unwavering in their duty. From their towers, they watched over a now fleeting moment in history: the Great Age of Sail, when mighty ships plied the world's oceans, connecting continents and establishing trade routes.
In the early months of research for my novel, If the Sea Must Be Your Home, I cast about for a framework to support the multiple voices echoing through time in the letters, ship's logs and journals covering the table in my office. How to tie it all together? One morning, after my second cup of coffee, it hit me. Lighthouse keepers. They could be the constant in this story.
Joseph Nickerson served as first keeper of the Sandy Neck Lighthouse, erected in 1826. As my novel opens, we see Joseph out at Sandy Neck, watching over the waters of Barnstable Harbor and Cape Cod Bay. Over the forty-year span of the story, Joseph and his successors anchor us to solid ground at a time of rapid change and innovation.
My quest to understand the lives of lighthouse keepers led me first to the Sturgis Library in West Barnstable, where I found a listing of lighthouse keepers and portions of a log book in their archives.
"Have you spoken with Ken Morton yet?" asked Research Librarian Gabrielle Faria-Kalkanis. The name was familiar because I'd read about him on the U.S. Lighthouse Society News website, but I had no idea how to contact him. That's why it pays to go to the Library! I left with an email and a mission to meet Kenneth G. Morton, current owner of the Sandy Neck Lighthouse.
It took a year for us to put the visit together, but wow, was it worth the wait. Check out the view from the tower.
Ken shared his extensive research on the lighthouse and allowed me to accompany him in his specially outfitted pick-up truck (with tires partially deflated) across six miles of sand, through the dunes, to the original site of the lighthouse where Joseph Nickerson served as first keeper of the light. The dunes are still covered with many of the same plants that would have lived there in the 1830s.
While the original structure no longer stands, I was able to see remnants of the brick foundation and tour the existing lighthouse and keeper’s house, built in 1857.
The lighthouse was restored in 2007 and is now an official private aid to navigation. For more information on the Sandy Neck Lighthouse, visit the Lighthouse Friends website.
Over the last three years, I've come to appreciate the essential and difficult role played by keepers of the light, many of whom made it a family tradition. At Sandy Neck, Lucy Baxter served as fifth keeper of the light. She held the post for four years after the death of her husband, Thomas P.D. Baxter, who had inherited the position from his father, Henry Baxter, second keeper of the light.
By the way, Ken Morton and Lucy Hinckley Baxter are distant relations, so the family tradition carries on.
For more on my novel, If the Sea Must Be Your Home, see my first blog. I welcome you to sign up for future articles. Thanks for reading!
Cindy
Cynthia Andrews Elder, author, If the Sea Must Be Your Home
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