Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. If I don’t write English too good, you’re probably wondering how I write these blog posts. Voice recognition software. It’s wonderful. I just say what I want to and the computer records it. Then my son Jacob goes through what I’ve said and straightens out my… Continue reading Kate’s Corner #27
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. It may surprise you to know that I spent part of every day on paperwork. John taught me how to keep the records and make the reports, but after he died, I relied on my son Jacob to put my words onto the report forms because… Continue reading Kate’s Corner #26
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef on the edge of New York Harbor. Fog was frequent at Robbins Reef. When I saw it coming, I went down into the deep basement and started the engine that sent out siren blasts from the fog signal at intervals of three seconds. What a huge… Continue reading Kate’s Corner #25
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef on the edge of New York Harbor. Every morsel of food we ate had to be brought by boat from Staten Island. The perfect lighthouse would have a vegetable garden, some fruit trees, a flock of chickens, a cow to supply milk, maybe even a horse… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #22
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. Let me dispel a bit of misinformation that is circulating, prompted by self-appointed experts who never check the accuracy of their assumptions. As far as I’ve been able to research, women who kept the lights were paid the same salary as male keepers. My husband John… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #21
TIME/DATE: Tuesday, April 24; Wednesday, April 25; Friday, April 27 from 10 AM to 1 PM PLACE: Lighthouse Tender LILAC, Pier 25, N. Moore and West Streets New York, NY—The Time in Children’s Arts Initiative is bringing underprivileged children to the Lighthouse Tender LILAC this week. After brief tours of the retired Coast Guard cutter,… Continue reading School children visit museum ship for “masked ball”
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. We talked earlier about lighthouses with caisson foundations. Let’s look at two caisson lights. Fourteen Foot Bank Light Station stands in Delaware Bay near Bowers Beach. It was America’s first pneumatic caisson lighthouse structure, built in 1887. The U.S. Light-House Board (USLHB) Committee on Engineering reviewed… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #20
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: 2018 Summer Research Assistant / Intern The U.S. Lighthouse Society is seeking a summer research assistant to copy historic documents relating to the U.S. Lighthouse Service and to make the documents accessible to the public through the Society’s new online catalog. The position will require camera work at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.,… Continue reading Opportunity to Work in the National Archives
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef, with more on lighthouse architecture. The light in the tower is what really mattered in a lighthouse. The tower of a lighthouse was there to support the lantern which housed the optic. The light needed protection from the weather and birds and anything else that might… Continue reading KATE’S CORNER #19
The National Archives has put together a coloring book based on architectural drawings of lighthouses found in Record Group 26. What a great way to engage kids (of any age) with lighthouses! The downloadable PDF is available here or by going to their website at https://www.archives.gov/campaigns/lighthouse-coloring-book. The Archives is encouraging folks to share their creations on Twitter by… Continue reading National Archives Creates Lighthouse Coloring Book
