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Old Saybrook, on the west side of the entrance to the Connecticut River, was first settled in 1635 and incorporated as a town in 1852. lt was a prosperous town full of sea captains' homes, and was for many years the only major stop on the railroad between New London and New Haven. The town remains a yachting capital and a quaint, exclusive community. The mighty Connecticut is New England’s largest river, flowing from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire to its mouth between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The growth of commerce along the river—navigable as far north as Hartford—as well as fishing based in Old Saybrook, led to increased shipping traffic.
The lighthouse is similar to the masonry towers built earlier at New London and Faulkner's Island, but this one is considered to represent the finest work of the three. The original wooden spiral staircase appears to have been replaced during an 1868 renovation. The lighthouse's system of 10 lamps and reflectors was replaced in 1852 by a fourth-order Fresnel lens. A fifth-order lens was installed in 1890. A fog bell was added in 1854. An
1850 inspection noted that ten lamps and reflectors were in use.
Catherine (Sykes) Whittlesey was keeper at the time, having replaced
her husband, Daniel, who died in 1841. The report read: Light-house
is a good building and in good order. Dwelling is a frame
building; the sills and lower part of the house are decayed in
consequence of the land being raised about two feet above the sills;
this house ought to have been raised when the house was raised.
There have been some conveniences added to the house since I supplied
it— – such as blinds to the windows. Lighting apparatus is good
and in first-rate clean order, and so is everything in and about the
premises.
Margaret Buckridge narrowly escaped death or serious injury one day in
April 1901 when a sudden gust of wind knocked her off the seawall near
the lighthouse. She fell about ten feet to the rocks, fracturing
several ribs and getting knocked unconscious in the process. When she
came to, she realized that the tide was coming in
and that nobody could hear her cries for help. She managed to drag
herself to safety and eventually recovered from the ordeal.
Keeper Buckridge’s son Tom served as an unpaid assistant until his own marriage in 1901. John Ninde Buckridge retired from the Lighthouse Service during the following year. When he died a decade later, a newspaper obituary remembered him in fond terms: Always good natured
and possessing a keen sense of humor, he had a bright word or a joke
for everyone with whom he came in contact up to within a few days of
the end. He was one of nature’s noblemen— – ‘a gentleman of the old
school.’
Elmer Gildersleeve, a native of
Port Jefferson, New York, succeeded Buckridge and remained keeper until
1925. His son Lawrence, who was born at the lighthouse in 1906,
was interviewed in 1978 for an article in the New Haven Register.
Lawrence, was one of eight children born to Keeper Gildersleeve and his
wife during the 34 years they spent at lighthouses.
Lawrence Gildersleeve said that he didn’t remember ever being lonely as a child. To pass the time, the family played cards, listened to the phonograph, or simply watched the parade of passing ships, from steamers to square-riggers. Young Lawrence made friends with the families who summered in the surrounding borough of Fenwick, and he earned a little extra cash by caddying at the nearby golf course. The pay was five cents for eighteen holes, but Lawrence recalled, “If I was lucky I got a quarter tip.” Sometimes young Lawrence was sent out the front door to fish for the family’s supper, and usually within about 20 minutes he’d catch some eels or flounder. When he was 14 he dug for clams and oysters, selling the steamer clams for 25 cents a bushel and the oysters for 45 cents a bushel. To get to school in those days, Gildersleeve Lawrence had to walk across an old wooden plank bridge at South Cove to a building four and a half miles away. He also remembered helping railroaders turn their engines around on a turntable near Saybrook Point. For his trouble he’d get a free ride in the engine. 
Keepers: (This list is a work in progress. If you have any information on the keepers of this lighthouse, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at nelights@gmail.com. Anyone copying this list onto another web site does so at their own risk, as the list is always subject to updates and corrections.) ? Cranie (?), Daniel Whittlesey (?-1841), Catherine S. Whittlesey (1841-c. 1850); Henry Clark (Clarke) (c. 1850); James Rankin (1853-1861), A. H. Bushnell (1861-1867); Jared Daniels (1867-1869); Richard Ingham (1869-1883), John Ninde Buckridge (1883-1902), Samuel Wright (1902), Elmer Gildersleeve (1902-1925), Captain ? Wolf, Arthur J. Baldwin (c. 1925-1930), William Chapel, Norman Boyd (Coast Guard, 1952-1954), George E. Sheffield (?, Lynde Point and Saybrook Breakwater Light), Laureat Le Clere (Lynde Point and Saybrook Breakwater Light 1954-1970) |
