THE LIGHTHOUSE ON THE LAKE

If Margaret had felt constrained by her life on the beach at the mouth of the Buffalo harbor living in a busy social complex, she would soon find herself at the opposite end of the spectrum. Marblehead, Ohio was located at the other end of Lake Erie, heading west from Buffalo. While an immediate busy social complex did not surround this new place, it must have looked much like the community of Margaret’s childhood. For Margaret, it must have seemed like coming home. Buffalo had been a long 360 miles from Hudson, Michigan. Marblehead, Ohio was only 114 miles to Hudson and a mere 105 miles to Detroit. Marblehead was close to Sandusky, a major shipping port on the lake and only 21 miles from the lighthouse. And like Hudson, Sandusky had acquired a library from the coffers of Andrew Carnegie. Only, Sandusky’s library was several floors and many volumes larger then the library in Hudson. Even though Sandusky was much larger then Hudson, it had a similar historical flavor. Both Hudson and Sandusky had played a part in the Underground Railroad. Famous people had walked the streets of Sandusky. Hudson could boast a native son; Sandusky could boast a visit by Charles Dickens. Well, the townspeople were able to recount that he had passed through on a brief visit. Unfortunately, for the town, Charles did not write a very glowing report. Never the less, Sandusky was by the time Margaret and Edward stepped onto the shores of Marblehead, a thriving small city, just the right size for someone with a rural background.

The lighthouse itself was a welcome change from the dangerous and unappealing Horseshoe Reef Lighthouse. The land was much more isolated, but the lighthouse was already famous and picturesque. People actually traveled to visit the lighthouse and take in the surrounding beauty of the landscape. There was no pollution from the industrial waste of a city, the air was clean and bright and the lake waters a vivid blue. Edward would no longer be stranded miles from the keeper’s residence tending to the light. He was only steps away from his watchtower. There were apple trees, cherry trees, and a place to have a garden with fresh vegetables in season gracing the table.

The new keeper’s home was not newly built, but it was clean and spacious. The residence itself lacked the more modern conveniences that a larger city could offer such as indoor plumbing and an electric range. However, Margaret had grown up with a wood burning stove. She already knew how to prepare the kindling for burning and stoke the fire. And Margaret already knew how to cook on a wood burning stove; she had done it all her life. Margaret and Edward were assigned the upstairs apartment and the head keeper, Charles Hunter was to live on the first floor. From the upper apartment, Margaret could see the winding staircase of the lighthouse through the tower windows. She would be able to watch Edward as he climbed those stairs and from her windows, she could see him on the balcony gazing out to the inland sea.

There was another reason Marblehead was a good place for Margaret. They were used to strong, independent women. And they were not the types who were the wives of ship captains and lighthouse keepers, no; they were the keepers of the lighthouse. When the first of Margaret’s ancestors were settling on the banks of the Bean Creek and establishing the community of Hudson, Rachel Wolcott was already tending to the lighthouse after the death of her husband, Benejah Wolcott in 1832. In 1896, another woman took on the responsibilities of tending the light after her husband died. Johanna McGee along with her children kept sailors safe from the treacherous Lake Erie waters until Charles Hunter arrived in 1903.

If there was anything to damper Margaret’s enthusiastic arrival, it was the marital status of her husband’s partner. Charles Hunter was a seasoned laker and son of a Great Lakes ship captain. He had been an assistant keeper at the 30 Mile Point Lighthouse located on Lake Ontario before assuming the position of head keeper at Marblehead. Although he and Edward had much in common from a career point of view, Edward had a wife. Charles Hunter did not. Whether this was an issue of concern at first, Margaret never revealed her feelings. A bachelor for some fifty years, Charles would take a wife to live downstairs from Edward and Margaret seven years after their arrival. Before then, Charles and Margaret developed a close working relationship when a war landed on the lighthouse doorstep. Yes, this was going to be a good place for Margaret to be.

On October 12, 1913, Margaret and Edward moved from Buffalo to Marblehead. Five months before the spring of 1913 experienced one of the worse natural disasters on record. On March 25, 26, 27, Ohio experienced the Great Flood of 1913. The Sandusky River flowed over its banks flooding Tiffin, Sandusky and the surrounding area. Nineteen lives were lost and the economic cost was devastating. One month after they arrived at the new lighthouse, Buffalo and Lake Erie experienced one of the worse storms ever recorded on the lake. Called the Great White Hurricane, the storm was responsible for the loss of many lives and the sinking of a brand new lightship. Safely and without incident, keeper Herman (n) and Margaret arrived in October and began life in a new state.