suspended from the lantern all the way down to the cellar. A
single winding of a clockwork mechanism each evening raised the weight and
set the revolving lens in motion.
Amos Baker Jr. was widowed twice
during his years at Butler Flats, but his loneliness was eased by the fact
that his son was the assistant keeper. He also had occasional visits from
his daughter, Amy. Some of the logs of Captain Baker are in the possession
of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society. The entry for Christmas in 1907
reads:
A pleasant Christmas Day. . . .
Squally in the evening, but we had some music from the phonograph so we had
sunshine inside.
A fog bell was sounded by an
automatic striking mechanism when needed, producing a double blow every 15
seconds. Amy Baker enjoyed saluting passing vessels with the bell. The
renowned Capt. Joshua Slocum gave Amy a copy of a booklet about his sloop
Spray with the inscription, “To the little girl who rang the bell each
time I passed the light.” Amy Baker later wrote of the fog bell:
To one not used to it, it would seem
almost unbearable when going for any length of time, but I have often been
told in the morning that it had been running during the night, when I knew
nothing of it, sleeping soundly all the while. Vessels are saluted by this
bell.
The Baker family found Butler
Flats Light a pleasant place to live in summer, but winters were a different
story. Amy Baker wrote:
In the winter ice shakes the light a good
deal at times and it is scarcely pleasant to have the chair in which you sit
shake and realize what might happen if the ice proved stronger than the iron
plates of the caisson.
In 1905, 200 tons of riprap stones (large blocks of granite) were placed
around the base of the lighthouse to help protect it against damage from
ice.
When Amos Baker Jr. died in 1911, his obituary stated, “For 13 years he
lived in Butler Flats Lighthouse. Visitors occasionally came alongside, and
Captain Baker's cheery, ‘Come aboard!’ always made them glad to obey and see
the old seaman's comfortable house.” Visitors' signatures in the register
included that of President Grover Cleveland.
Charles A. Baker, who replaced his
father as keeper, was alone at Butler Flats Light during the great hurricane
of September 21, 1938, which battered the south-facing New England coast.
Someone later told Baker that since they could see from shore that the light
was on, they knew Baker was all right. Baker responded, “What a foolish
remark. As long as I could crawl, I would get the light going.” Charles A.
Baker retired in 1941.
This article is excerpted from the
upcoming book,
The Lighthouses of Massachusetts, to
be published in spring 2007 by Commonwealth Editions.
Posted 7/25/2006
