Digest>Archives> Jan/Feb 2014

From the Archives: Light Work at the Height of War

Comments?    


You can see an enlarged version of this picture by clicking here.
>> Click to enlarge <<

Shown here is Andrew Haynes, a coal dock worker, mowing the lawn on September 13, 1943 at the Fairport Harbor Lighthouse in Fairport, Ohio. The lighthouse is also known as the Grand River Lighthouse. Two years previously, Haynes had moved into the lighthouse with his wife and two daughters as its caretaker. He received free rent in return for taking care of the lighthouse and the grounds. This was during the height of World War II, and Haynes might have been thinking about the radio reports of the invasion of mainland Italy by Allied Forces, Italy’s sudden surrender, and the German army invading Rome, Naples, and the rest of northern Italy. But, in spite of the world turmoil, life had to go on and the care of the lighthouse had to take place. Mowing the large lawn with a push- mower like this must have been hard work, but it certainly kept him in shape. Two years later, Andrew Haynes wife was one of the founding members of the Fairport Harbor Historical Society, and a museum was created at the lighthouse. The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse was discontinued in 1925 and replaced by the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Lighthouse which is now privately owned and in the process of being restored.

This story appeared in the Jan/Feb 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

All contents copyright © 1995-2024 by Lighthouse Digest®, Inc. No story, photograph, or any other item on this website may be reprinted or reproduced without the express permission of Lighthouse Digest. For contact information, click here.


Subscribe
to Lighthouse Digest



USLHS Marker Fund


Lighthouse History
Research Institute


Shop Online












Subscribe   Contact Us   About Us   Copyright Foghorn Publishing, 1994- 2024   Lighthouse Facts     Lighthouse History