Please Give to the Old Lady in 2020
Dear Friend of the Sakonnet Lighthouse (FOSL):
It is November 30th and I write this piece from the throat of a full blown gale raging off Sakonnet Point. As it often does when our forlorn lighthouse battles a maelstrom, my mind wanders back to a time before which modern conveniences such as electricity, running water, radio or Marconi traffic were conceived. And what it must SOUNDED like with a 70 knot southeasterly blistering the steel on Sakonnet Lighthouse. Her windward windows were regularly torn from their frames, which in February would turn the coal stove (if she wasn’t snuffed out with seawater pouring in) into a life or death piece of technology.
If you read the business-like logs of the keepers of our light, their emotionless descriptions of extraordinary situations almost defy belief. But that was their lot in the years before the Spanish Flu, two world wars and any number of unnamed hurricanes. God help a keeper on Sakonnet light should he burst an appendix or sustain a severe injury. Turn Old Glory upside down on her mast and hope someone ashore would recognize the international symbol of distress. Often, it was days before succor arrived in the form of a US Lighthouse Service Tender out of Bristol.
And yet these stoic keepers remained on station, often for years, on Little Cormorant Rock. These immense offshore lighthouses were literally modern marvels and the men who served on them as essential as todays aircraft controllers. Without Beavertail and Sakonnet Lighthouses, cities like Providence and Fall River would never have become the centers of commerce they were. Early traders, especially from Europe, wouldn't dare travel up an unmarked tributary or bay without an unmistakable waypoint, which only a lighthouse could provide. Truly an exit sign off of the most profitable maritime route of her day.
These are trying times. We will survive and thrive as we always do. It may be a stretch to say that Sakonnet lighthouse and those who served on her are timeless memorials to what it takes to build a great country and state, to operate in some of the harshest conditions known to man and to the resolve of a new generation determined to keep this piece of history upright and relevant. We know there are many worthy causes out there but I hope there is a place in your annual giving for the Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse. Please know that your tax-deductible gift will only be used on the physical work we undertake annually at Sakonnet Lighthouse. We have no overhead of any kind and your dollars will be put to work on our charge and for nothing else.
Thank you for reading this, stay safe and let’s look forward to a bang up 2021!
Your Friend, Scott Brown, President, Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse
Please send your tax-deductible gifts to:
Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse
P.O. Box 154
Little Compton, RI 02837
It is November 30th and I write this piece from the throat of a full blown gale raging off Sakonnet Point. As it often does when our forlorn lighthouse battles a maelstrom, my mind wanders back to a time before which modern conveniences such as electricity, running water, radio or Marconi traffic were conceived. And what it must SOUNDED like with a 70 knot southeasterly blistering the steel on Sakonnet Lighthouse. Her windward windows were regularly torn from their frames, which in February would turn the coal stove (if she wasn’t snuffed out with seawater pouring in) into a life or death piece of technology.
If you read the business-like logs of the keepers of our light, their emotionless descriptions of extraordinary situations almost defy belief. But that was their lot in the years before the Spanish Flu, two world wars and any number of unnamed hurricanes. God help a keeper on Sakonnet light should he burst an appendix or sustain a severe injury. Turn Old Glory upside down on her mast and hope someone ashore would recognize the international symbol of distress. Often, it was days before succor arrived in the form of a US Lighthouse Service Tender out of Bristol.
And yet these stoic keepers remained on station, often for years, on Little Cormorant Rock. These immense offshore lighthouses were literally modern marvels and the men who served on them as essential as todays aircraft controllers. Without Beavertail and Sakonnet Lighthouses, cities like Providence and Fall River would never have become the centers of commerce they were. Early traders, especially from Europe, wouldn't dare travel up an unmarked tributary or bay without an unmistakable waypoint, which only a lighthouse could provide. Truly an exit sign off of the most profitable maritime route of her day.
These are trying times. We will survive and thrive as we always do. It may be a stretch to say that Sakonnet lighthouse and those who served on her are timeless memorials to what it takes to build a great country and state, to operate in some of the harshest conditions known to man and to the resolve of a new generation determined to keep this piece of history upright and relevant. We know there are many worthy causes out there but I hope there is a place in your annual giving for the Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse. Please know that your tax-deductible gift will only be used on the physical work we undertake annually at Sakonnet Lighthouse. We have no overhead of any kind and your dollars will be put to work on our charge and for nothing else.
Thank you for reading this, stay safe and let’s look forward to a bang up 2021!
Your Friend, Scott Brown, President, Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse
Please send your tax-deductible gifts to:
Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse
P.O. Box 154
Little Compton, RI 02837