The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife

The Lighthouse Keeper's WifeThe Lighthouse Keeper's Wife by Connie Scovill Small I once longed to marry a lighthouse keeper. I imagined days watching the fog roll by, spotting birds and whales, and looking for shells. After reading the autobiography of Connie Scovill Smallwho was also profiled in Yankee back in 1982I now know the romance of that role is outweighed by all the work. Hauling water, polishing brass, ironing lantern covers, canning fish and the list goes on. Still,

The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife by Connie Scovill Small

I once longed to marry a lighthouse keeper. I imagined days watching the fog roll by, spotting birds and whales, and looking for shells. After reading the autobiography of Connie Scovill Small—who was also profiled in Yankee back in 1982—I now know the romance of that role is outweighed by all the work. Hauling water, polishing brass, ironing lantern covers, canning fish … and the list goes on. Still, hers was a life filled with simple pleasures. Small’s lilting voice carries us from 1918 to 1980, through memories of her teenage years, when she started dating her future husband, Elson; to their posts at various light stations up and down the Maine coast; to post-retirement life. This read will keep you company no matter the time of year or weather; it’s like a beacon for the good old days. —Katrina Farmer, Yankee associate editor

In a genuine and remarkably captivating voice, Connie Scovill Small (1901–2005) writes about her 28 years of lighthouse living and service along the Maine and New Hampshire coasts with her husband, Elson. While her autobiography is a compelling narrative about a life of “people risking their own lives to help men and ships: a life of order and duty,” it also inspires and encourages us to “look up and never down” in our shared search for a meaningful existence in the inevitable isolation and uncertainty of living.

This edition of The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife, prepared under Connie's supervision as she approached her one hundredth birthday, present Connie's text with many additional photographs from the author's collection. The text has been revised to make necessary corrections, and that format and binding have been greatly improved. 

The book also includes and interpretive essay by historian Andrea Constantine Hawkes, who examines Connie Small's life story as an important source for understanding New England history and the study of women, and places it within a tradition of America women's autobiography. Connie's book, written when the author was in her mid-eighties, has been one of the most popular University of Maine Press books. Now it is available in an edition that will facilitate the multifaceted reading it richly deserves. 

• Published by the University of Maine Press
• Paperback
• 250 pages
• 6" x 9" x .75"