At the end of this year, Sally Snowman will retire after 20 years as keeper of Boston Light in Massachusetts, America’s oldest light station. As a civilian employee of the Coast Guard, she oversaw tours and managed the Boston Light Augmentation Program, under which members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary perform various functions at Boston Light. She also has represented Boston Light in numerous interviews and TV shows. She is the last lighthouse keeper in the United States still employed by the federal government, a legacy that goes back 234 years.
In 2018, Sally was the recipient of a “Keeper of the Light” award from the American Lighthouse Foundation for “her sustained dedication and outstanding achievement at historic Boston Light Station – and for perpetuating our great nation’s time-honored lightkeeping heritage” Sally’s husband, Jay Thomson, who is a civil engineer, also took part in this interview.
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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