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This rare post card, signed in 1908 by Stamford Harbor Lighthouse keeper John J. Cook, was sent to his cousin Jacob Christ to show him the lighthouse where he lived.
In a 1908 newspaper interview, keeper Cook stated, “We can’t go to church on Christmas and we miss the nice music and fine sermons, but there is compensation for that. What more soul-stirring music could there be than that of wind and wave as they whistle and roar or moan and swish past our little home?
“And that light up aloft is a sermon in itself. Many a fervent “Thank God,” many a heart-deep prayer has gone up, maybe from people who wouldn’t be thinking of such things ashore, when the red gleam of Stamford Light was made out in a storm or the bell heard in the fog.
“My little light has its mission just as your pulpit preacher has his, and no one who has watched it through terrible winter storms can fail to appreciate this, and with it, his responsibility. Human life, yes, human souls depend upon that light, Christmas and every other night of the year, and I dare guess it’s compensation for the loss of a Christmas sermon to keep the light burning steadily.”
John J. Cook left Stamford Harbor Lighthouse in 1909 to serve at the Sandy Hook East Beacon Light in New Jersey, which is also known as the Sandy Hook Point Lighthouse. In 1915, he became the keeper of Dutch Island Lighthouse where he served until 1927. (Lighthouse Digest archives)
Back to the edition of: Nov/Dec 2020
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