LUBEC, Maine — Close to 100 people attended a ceremony last weekend in which a historical U.S. Lighthouse Service marker was placed on the grave of Maine lighthouse keeper Frederick W. Morong.
“It was better than we expected. It was a large crowd,” Tim Harrison, editor of Lighthouse Digest magazine, which hosted the event at the Lubec Cemetery, said this week. “The cars were lined up and down the street as far as I could see.”
He said about two dozen of Morong’s descendants attended, having come from New Hampshire, Vermont and California, as well as other areas of Maine.
The ceremony took place exactly 125 years to the day after Morong made his first visit to the newly completed Lubec Channel Lighthouse.
On that day — Nov. 7, 1890 — he became the first lighthouse keeper of the spark plug-style lighthouse, Harrison said.
In 1895, Morong became the head keeper of Libby Island Lighthouse in Machias Bay, where he served until 1898. Then he became the keeper of Little River Lighthouse in Cutler, where he served until his retirement in 1913.
Dave Corbett, grandson of Little River Lighthouse keeper Willie W. Corbett, read a statement from U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin.
“I would like to extend our nation’s great gratitude to the Morong family for their dedication over the generations to Maine’s iconic lighthouses and those guided to shore and safety by them.”
The famous lighthouse poem, “It’s Brasswork,” which was written by Frederic W. Morong Jr., was sung by Sally Morong Chetwynd.
Harrison said he hopes to see historical markers placed at the gravesites of all of Maine’s lighthouse keepers. That task might take some effort, however, because of the difficulty in finding where former lightkeepers are buried, he said.
This spring, Lighthouse Digest will host another ceremony to place a marker at the grave of Nathaniel Alley, who died in 1934 after being overcome by fumes at the Lubec Channel Lighthouse, where he was keeper. Harrison said that event was made possible because Alley’s grandson attended the Nov. 7 ceremony and provided the necessary information.