Photo Caption:
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Oscar P. Olsen, born on August 3, 1886 in Calvert County, Maryland, from parents who had emigrated from Norway, became an assistant lighthouse keeper at Baltimore Lighthouse on December 4, 1913. He could never have imagined that one day the lighthouse would be part of a nuclear experiment. In fact, he would not have even known of the word nuclear or atomic. He remained at the Baltimore Lighthouse until 1918 when he was transferred to become the head keeper at Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, also in Maryland. He was married with one child. Although possible, it appears unlikely that his wife and child lived with him at the lighthouse. There was another keeper in the Chesapeake Bay region with the same initials as Oscar P. Olsen, but he was always referred to as O.P. Olsen. To make researching lighthouse history even more confusing, Oscar P. Olsen sometimes reversed his name to read Peter O. Olsen. (Photograph courtesy of Sandy Clunies, Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society.)
Back to the edition of: May/Jun 2013
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