In the days before the establishment of the U.S. Coast Guard, families lived and worked at lighthouses. The keeper’s family learned to tend the light and some wives and daughters became the official keepers or assistant keepers. This was one of the first government career fields open to females. In this program, historian Mary Rasa explores the US Lighthouse Service and takes a look at five remarkable women keepers. In fact, hundreds of American women have kept the lamps burning in lighthouses since 1776, when Hannah Thomas’s husband, the official keeper of Gurnet in Plymouth, Massachusetts, left to join the battle for American independence. Most of these women served in the 19th century, including three in our local area.

Other then working as secretaries, the first female federal employees were Lighthouse Keepers

Mary Rasa is a historian who worked as a museum curator and park ranger for the National Park Service for 16 years. She holds a BA in Historic Preservation and a Masters in Library Science. She conducted over one thousand programs for audiences from school children to academic and professional conferences, seniors groups and historical societies. She currently conducts historic programs as well as completing grants, research and exhibit work as an independent contractor. Women Lighthouse Keepers is the first of a series of talks Mary will give on the three organizations that merged in 1915 to create the United States Coast Guard.

Women Lighthouse Keepers, with Mary Rasa

W E B I N A R

Mar 28, 2021 at 2 p.m.

You are invited to a Zoom webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86937899309

Phone: 646 558 8656

Webinar ID: 869 3789 9309

Co-sponsored by the Henry L. Ferguson Museum, Noank Historical Society, & New London Maritime Society.