Sally Snowman waves hello and goodbye.

 

When a new year comes around, many of us face changes in our lives.

Sally Snowman, the last remaining official lighthouse keeper in the US, retired the last day of 2023 from her post looking after the first lighthouse built in North America, on a tiny island in Boston Harbor. Snowman, who is 72, has been looking after Boston Light on Little Brewster Island for two decades. Her retirement was a result of the property being sold to a private owner. Since being designated a national landmark in 1964, the lighthouse has been staffed by government funding, making it the last staffed lighthouse in the country.

The lighthouse was built in 1716, almost a century after colonial settlers arrived from Europe, but had to be rebuilt after British forces blew it up in 1776 during the American Revolution

Sally and I celebrating the 300th birthday of the Boston Light.

In her role as lighthouse keeper, Sally Snowman has been known to wear history-appropriate 18th-century clothing while greeting visitors to her island outpost. Ever since Snowman’s father, a member of the Coast Guard auxiliary, took her to see the lighthouse when she was ten years old, she dreamed of being a lighthouse keeper herself.

Snowman had worked at the lighthouse for ten years as a volunteer before being hired as the keeper in 2003. She became Boston Light’s 70th caretaker, the first woman to hold the post. Now she’s the last person to do so. The beacon and its foghorn is still in service as a navigational aid though both have been fully automated since 1998.

She and her husband wrote three books about the lighthouse. Snowman said her favorite place to go was on the gallery at the top of the tower standing outside the lantern room to watch  the everchanging views of the sea and sky.

During her time there, Snowman said that even with snow and sea pounding on the back of the keeper’s house and on every window, the experience was exciting. “If the house got washed off the island during the storm when I was asleep, what a way to go,” she said.”

Little Brewster Island with Boston Lighthouse

 

 

Although confident the future owners will continue to care for the lighthouse property, Snowman had mixed feelings about leaving. Being a lighthouse keeper was a dream come true for her, but after 20 years, it was time to pass the baton, or should I say, light, over to the next caretaker.

 

Let your light shine this year. Matthew 5:16