Eldred Rock is at the north end of Alaska’s Lynn Canal, 55 miles north of the port of Juneau and about 35 miles south of Skagway. Eldred Rock Lighthouse was first lighted on June 1, 1906, as one of four lighthouses in the Lynn Canal. It’s the only remaining example of the wood-frame lighthouses that were built in the state between 1902 and 1906.
The light station was automated and destaffed in 1973. The Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association was organized to restore, maintain, and preserve the light station. The organization entered into a lease agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard on April 1, 2020.
Sue York is the organization’s executive director. After graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1995, Sue served as Operations Officer aboard the Coast Guard buoy tender Papaw, followed by a tour as Operations Officer at Vessel Traffic Service Houston/Galveston. She then enjoyed 14 years as an educator after moving to Juneau, Alaska, with her husband Matt and three daughters in 2003. Apart from three years in Valdez, Alaska, serving as Coast Guard Ombudsman, Sue has made Juneau her home.
In 2016, combining her love for outdoor athletics and her interest in southeast Alaska history, Sue became a pedicab tour guide, providing service to cruise ship visitors along the docks and streets of historic downtown Juneau.
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Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org
Thank you Jeremy D’Entremont me and sister like your podcasts
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoy them.
I walked every foot of Elderd rock while ststioned there, often with kenmore and willie. Fished on east side boat ramp for small rock cod . Not a lot of things to do, keeping up with standing watch, engine maintance, cooking, weather taking, radio message skills , ect. I studied for and earned my thirdclass enginman rate, and learned what large – long earth quake felt like. Good friday was never the same after that!