Keeper at West Quoddy Head Deploys the Tried-and-True

By Maine Lights Today Staff March 18, 2020

The following news story appeared in the Boston Globe on April 22, 1932. The account appeared under the newspaper’s column, entitled, “Odd Items from Everywhere.”

At the time, Eugene N. Larrabee was serving as keeper at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse – a post he held from 1930 to 1940. Based on the account, it appears that electricity had recently been installed at the lighthouse and the subsequent loss of commercial power during a storm may have resulted in the first outage of the beacon in its storied history. The account appears below…

“The light in the tower at West Quoddy Head, near Lubec, Me., failed to shine this week for the first time since Thomas Jefferson was President. A heavy snowfall, which did extensive damage to many parts of Eastern Maine, cut off the wire system recently installed in the lighthouse.

“Keeper E. N. Larrabee quickly got the old vapor lamp, which had been taken out when the new system was installed, and in a half-hour, a beacon was again provided for the mariners.”