Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. Last week I showed you a photo of USCGC Margaret Norvell. She wasn’t the only female keeper who has a ship bearing her name. I have one too. It warmed my spirit to be remembered almost 80 years after I retired. The Coast Guard elected to name… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #10
Kate Walker here. While I was tending the light on Robbins Reef, Margaret Norvell was tending the light at Port Pontchartain on Lake Pontchartain north of New Orleans in Louisiana. She was there from 1896 until 1924, living in a square, two-story white frame dwelling built on an iron pile foundation, with a slate roof… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #9
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef at the edge of New York Harbor. All this talk today about immigration. We’re all descended from immigrants. I came from Germany a widow, looking for a better life. My second husband John was an immigrant from Sweden. I met him while I was waiting tables… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #8
Kate Walker here. I kept the light on Robbins Reef in New York Harbor from 1890 to 1919. That’s a lot of years, isn’t it? And don’t forget that the light had to be kept seven days a week, 365 days a year. There were no days off unless you had an assistant keeper or… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #7
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. In 1886 before John died, the Statue of Liberty was erected on Bedloe’s Island, two miles northeast of Robbins Reef. Is the name ‘Eiffel’ familiar to you? French builder Gustave Eiffel’s iron framework had been anchored to steel I-beams within the concrete pedestal and assembled. We… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #6
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef on the edge of New York Harbor. Have you crossed a bridge or ridden on a highway for which you paid a toll? That money collected helped pay the cost of building that bridge or highway. Tolls paid by ship owners helped build the first lighthouse… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #5
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef at the edge of New York Harbor. When my man John was assistant keeper at Sandy Hook Light in New Jersey, he was proud of the fact that it was the oldest continually operated light station in the United States, built in 1764. John told me… Continue reading Kate’s Corner #4
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef on the edge of New York harbor. Before John Walker brought me to Robbins Reef, he was assistant keeper at Sandy Hook Light Station. There we had a well to supply our drinking water. Robbins Reef sits on a huge rock ledge, surrounded by deep water.… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #3
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. If you plan to come visit me, be careful you don’t get your feet tangled up in your long skirts as you come up that ladder. It takes both hands to climb up or down the ladder, so you don’t have a free hand to gather… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #2
Keeper Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef at the edge of New York Harbor. The only way to get to Robbins Reef is by boat, and when you get here, there’s no place to pull a boat out of the water. Everyone has to climb up the ladder to the deck of… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #1
