This spring, Cutler resident Terry Rowden was honored with the Len Hadley Volunteerism Award from the American Lighthouse Foundation. He was given the award for his many hours helping to save the Little River Lighthouse, where he once was stationed.
The lighthouse holds a special place in Rowden’s heart, especially since manning the lighthouse led him to meet his wife, Cynthia. “I married a local girl,” he said.
The Friends of Little River Lighthouse president Tim Harrison said in an interview that Rowden was instrumental in the longtime effort to save and restore the lighthouse at the mouth of the Little River in Cutler.
“Terry’s one of those above-and-beyond volunteers, because you don’t have to ask him to do anything,” Harrison said.
Over the last few years, Rowden has done both everyday maintenance and major projects on the offshore lighthouse, including rebuilding a cistern cover and fixing the hot water heater. While the effort to restore the lighthouse was a team effort, Harrison credits Rowden with being a driving force in bringing the lighthouse back from the brink.
Rowden’s path to the award perhaps illustrates the serendipity of one’s life path. Just days out of high school in the Midwest, Rowden joined the Coast Guard in 1966 for the novelty of it. “None of my family had been in the Coast Guard, so I joined,” Rowden said.
Rowden only gained the post by chance. He was scheduled to be stationed in Lubec in 1968, but a fellow guardsman asked to change posts because the guardsman had just bought a new Corvette and hated the idea of being stationed on an island.
While there, Rowden and a fellow guardsman had their share of unusual foibles. The other guardsman decided to bring several goats onto the 15-acre island to act as lawn mowers. “The ram, of course, thought he owned the island…[and] you had manure everywhere,” Rowden said. During a surprise inspection, one of Rowden’s commanding officers noticed the latter fact all too quickly and ordered the animals off the island ASAP. The two had to ferry the goats to the mainland as quickly as possible.
He and his fellow guardsman also ate some interesting meals. At one point, they decided to try to make fudge, but misunderstood what it meant to soft boil. “We kept trying to roll it,” Rowden said. They boiled the concoction so long that the pan and spoon could never be used again.
While picking up the mail for the Coast Guard, Rowden noticed Cynthia Cates, the daughter of the postmaster. The two courted and soon were married. As it happens, Rowden happened to marry in a lighthouse family of sorts. Cynthia’s father, Jasper Cates, Jr., is the man who personally stopped the Coast Guard from demolishing the lighthouse in 1979. Cynthia’s brother, Stephen, is married to the granddaughter of Roscoe Johnson, who was the keeper of Little River Lighthouse from 1896 to 1898. Roscoe Johnson’s daughter, Velma, married Willie Corbett, who was the last civilian keeper of the U.S. Lighthouse Service to serve at Little River Lighthouse.
The Coast Guard decided to abandon the lighthouse in the late ’70s and tried to give it to other state and national agencies, but there were no takers.
“No one wanted it. Everyone said it would be impossible to be saved,” said Harrison. “They wanted to get rid of the whole kit and caboodle.”
Instead, Harrison intervened and formed an organization to take care of the lighthouse. He even moved up to the area from Southern Maine to oversee the restoration.
Rowden learned of the effort when a truck pulling a boat for the project got stuck near his house. His first volunteer effort for the organization was to pull the truck out, according to Harrison.
Both Rowden and Harrison are quick to point out that the restoration is a team effort, both in money and labor. The restoration cost roughly $250,000, mostly funded by small donations of less than $70.
But Bob Trapani of the American Lighthouse Foundation believes successful lighthouse restoration projects aren’t possible without one or two go-to volunteers. Rowden often did the less desirable projects, like cleaning dead mice out of the cistern before restoring it. He also does the little things that keep the lighthouse viable.
“You can restore a light station,” said Trapani, “but nothings stays restored without someone maintaining it on a regular basis.”
Thanks to the work of Rowden and others, the lighthouse has become a tourist destination. Lighthouse enthusiasts even can stay overnight at the keeper’s quarters in July and August. The Friends of Little River Lighthouse also will conduct open houses July 16 and 30 and August 13.
Coverage of Washington County is made possible by the Eaton Foundation.
Craig Idlebrook is a freelance writer living in Somerville, Mass.