Thirty-four-year-old Kate Kaird from Germany arrived in America in 1882 with her son Jacob. A widow, Kate quickly found work as a cook at the Officer's Quarters at Fort Hancock, New Jersey.
It was at the Officer's Quarters that Kate met John Walker, keeper of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse. As Kate did not speak much English, John helped her learn the language. They married and John, Kate, and her son Jacob lived onshore in a house next to the Sandy Hook Lighthouse.
John soon was hired as the keeper at Robbins Reef, a small lighthouse in New York Bay between Manhattan and Staten Island. Kate was not happy about moving to the lighthouse because it was on a granite foundation with no grass or trees. There would be no where for Jacob to play, and no where for a garden.
Although Jacob attended school on land, boarding with a family there, in the summers and weekends he returned home to the lighthouse. Kate applied for and got the job of assistant keeper. She and John had to track the amount of coal and kerosene they used, note the weather conditions, clean the lenses on the light once a month.
During their first spring at Robbins Reef, Kate gave birth to a daughter, Mae. The following October, the Statue of Liberty opened - a celebration they watched from the lighthouse catwalk. After several happy years at the lighthouse, John fell ill with pneumonia in February. Despite Kate's care, he continued to worsen and she sent up a distress signal, the American flag flown upside down.
Sadly John died from his illness and Kate was told she had to leave Robbins Reef in ten days. However she managed to persuade the Lighthouse Board to allow her to stay on until a replacement was found. However, when no man could be found to accept the job, Kate was hired on, in 1895, as one of the first women on the Eastern Seaboard to be in charge of an offshore lighthouse. The following year, Jacob was hired as her part time assistant.
Kate was a strong rower and became known for her rescues of stranded sailors whose boats foundered on the nearby reef. Kate retired from her position as lighthouse keeper when she was seventy-one-years old. She lived out her remaining years in a cottage on Staten Island with Mae, near her family and friends.
Discussion
Kate's Light tells the remarkable story of Katherine Walker who was born Katherine Gortler in Germany in 1848. After emigrating to the United States, she married an light keeper and eventually became a light keeper herself. Kate was light keeper at Robbins Reef until her retirement in 1919, passing on the job to her son Jacob who was keeper until 1921. Although Kate died in 1931, she is not forgotten by those who sail in the waters of New York Bay today.
In this lovely picture book, Spires highlights for younger readers, Kate Walker's courage, determination and resiliency as she encountered each new challenge in her life. She was a widow with a young son when she emigrated to the United States. Unable to speak much English, she quickly found a job, married and learned a new language.
After her marriage to John Walker, Kate met the challenge of living on an offshore lighthouse by quickly adapting to yet another very different lifestyle, one more isolated and requiring the discipline of caring for the lighthouse. She knew lives depended on her and her husband operating the light that guided sailors to safety in the bay. When her husband died, once again Kate showed resiliency and self confidence in taking over the job of keeper of the lighthouse. Her incredible courage was displayed in the many rescues Kate undertook during her time as light keeper.
In her note at the back of the book titled, About Kate Walker, Spires makes special mention of what life was like in the Robbins Reef lighthouse: "...Kate lived without the conveniences of modern life. The rooms were lit with kerosene lamps. Because the lighthouse had no electricity, Kate had no refrigerator, washing machine, or electric iron, and no hot water except for what she could heat on the coal stove in the kitchen. A cistern in the basement held filtered rainwater that was pumped by hand to the first floor. There was no indoor plumbing. With no central heating, the upper floors of the lighthouse were cold in winter."
The telling of Kate Walker's story is enhanced by the lovely illustrations by artist Emily Arnold McCully. Rendered in watercolor, pen and ink, McCully captures the atmosphere of late nineteenth century life on New York Bay. Many illustrations are filled with the blues, greens and greys of the water. Readers will especially enjoy her illustrations of the bay, which capture the peaceful calm of rowing out to the lighthouse, the harbour when it is busy with ships and the fearsome wildness of the water during storms. In contrast, are the idyllic paintings of life in the cozy lighthouse.
One interesting addition to this picture book is the illustration by Currier & Ives of 1892 titled The Port Of New York: Bird's-Eye view from the Battery, Looking South which can be found in the inside of the front and back covers. A closer view of this image is available from the Library of Congress website: https://www.loc.gov/resource/pga.00863/.
Kate's Light is another excellent addition to picture books that highlight the often forgotten contributions and achievements by women over the years. Elizabeth Spires provides extra information in her About Kate Walker section as well a Notes and Additional Information
Book Details:
Kate's Light: Kate Walker at Robbins Reef Lighthouse by Elizabeth Spires
New York: Margaret Ferguson Books 2021
37 pp.
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