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This 1894 illustration shows a woman riding in the “Longfellow Chair” at Minot’s Ledge Light. It was so-named because the famed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used this method to gain access to the light when he visited in 1871. Whenever the seas were too rough for a boat to land next to the lighthouse, or the rungs of the ladder on the outer wall were iced up, the keepers resorted to using the chair to exchange passengers and keepers. One reporter described what it was like in a 1904 article:
“One sits in the chair on the floor of the light, just inside, and, with back to the door, he shuts his eyes and communes with himself. The rope passes through a block at the end of a davit that projects several feet from the side of the lighthouse. Therefore, when he has shot out from the door and swung back and forth awhile, he finds himself suspended forty feet above the water. Then comes the lowering process, which must be experienced to be appreciated, and, finally, at the end, the hazardous process of getting from the chair to the deck of the boat. It is really a very interesting experience.”
Another account of a woman using the chair was given by lighthouse historian Edward Rowe Snow: “As was the custom, the ladies were harnessed into the old-fashioned ‘Longfellow’s Chair’ and then hauled up the side of the 114-foot edifice and deposited in the doorway of the first landing. One lady in particular seemed quite grim during the journey up against the outside of the tall granite structure, but she arrived at the entrance without any comment. She did not mention she had heart trouble until later, when the party was ready to descend to the boat.
“Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Keeper Reamy tied her as safely as possible before he swung her out over the waves. Suddenly, she seemed to grow pale and sway in the chair which was lowered at a great speed so that she would only be in the air a short time. She reached the boat safely and sat quietly while other members of the group were lowered from the tower. Finally, when all were on board, the skipper sailed away. The next time he visited the lighthouse he informed keeper Reamy that the lady suffering from heart trouble had fainted dead away as the boat left the light. Keeper Reamy left us to imagine what might have happened had she fainted on the way down in the chair.” (Lighthouse Digest archives)
Back to the edition of: Nov/Dec 2022
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