THOMASTON, Maine (The following is excerpted from a story by Walter Ham, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters)
Crew members from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Abbie Burgess (WLM-553) and Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) Southwest Harbor, Maine, placed flowers and national ensigns at the gravesites of Abbie Burgess and Isaac Grant, two renowned lighthouse keepers, during a visit here in August.
The ANT maintains 293 ATON from the Marshall Point Lighthouse in St. George, Maine, to the St. Croix River on the Canadian Border. The team assists with 439 additional Aids to Navigation.
The crew of Abbie Burgess, the Rockland, Maine-based cutter, maintains 342 buoys that enable lobster boats, fishing vessels and sailboats to transit through local bays and harbor entrances.
Candace was the US Lighthouse Society historian from 2016 until she passed away in August 2018. For 30 years, her work involved lighthouse history. She worked with the National Park Service and the Council of American Maritime Museums. She was a noted author and was considered the most knowledgable person on lighthouse information at the National Archives. Books by Candace Clifford include: Women who Kept the Lights: a History of Thirty-eight Female Lighthouse Keepers , Mind the Light Katie, and Maine Lighthouses, Documentation of their Past.