It was not a fun job, and it didn’t pay well, either.
But the dozens of men who worked as keepers of the historic Hillsboro Lighthouse in Hillsboro Beach devoted their lives to the security of American mariners and the United States.
Today, their jobs have mostly been eliminated, but the Hillsboro Lighthouse Preservation Society wants to make sure South Floridians remember their heroic efforts.
A ceremony on Aug. 7, National Lighthouse Day, will commemorate the four keepers who are buried at Pompano Beach Cemetery. Their descendants will place U.S. Lighthouse Service badge grave markers on their tombstones, the first time their graves will receive this special medal.
“They were pioneers,” said Ralph Krugler, the preservation society’s historian. “They saw themselves in service to the U.S. and to the mariners. Many were former boat captains. Everything came in by ship then since aviation was still in its infancy.”
For hundreds of years, ships and boats at sea depended on lighthouse lights to navigate along the coast. The Hillsboro lighthouse is the only lighthouse in Broward County, with Jupiter Inlet in Palm Beach County the closest to the north, and Cape Florida in Miami-Dade County the nearest to the south. Built in 1906 and lit up for the first time in 1907, it’s 142 feet high and widely known for being featured on a U.S. postage stamp.
Keepers had to maintain the lights according to a daily schedule. They also had to make repairs to on-site buildings, including adding a fresh coat of paint every year, and be prepared to respond to ocean emergencies such as shipwrecks. On the Hillsboro grounds are two keepers’ dwellings, a crew barracks, shop-garage and a radio building, now used as an office.
“It was a lot of tedious work, a lot of monotony,” and the salary was meager, Krugler said. He said civil service records show one keeper, Thomas Knight, who served from the 1910s to the 1930s, received only $630 in salary one year.
“They were paid terribly, and a lot of them left,” he said.
THE HONOREES & THEIR STORIES
The Preservation Society website shares brief bios of each keeper. Below, find out more about the four who will be remembered at the ceremony.
Judson B. “Judge” Isler: He worked from 1920 to 1939 and was the lighthouse’s longest-serving first assistant keeper. He rode out several hurricanes in the lighthouse with his friend, keeper Thomas Knight, near whom he is buried in the Pompano Beach cemetery.
Benjamin Stone: Serving from 1937 to 1941, Stone was the keeper when the U.S. Lighthouse Service was disbanded and all lighthouses and lightships were placed under the supervision of the Coast Guard. When Stone and his family moved to Hillsboro, they brought their family pet, Joe, an alligator, who had his own pen on the grounds and became a “local celebrity,” according to the preservation society.
Warren Bennett: Bennett saw a lot of action in his years at the lighthouse from 1941 to 1949. During World War II, hundreds of soldiers came through the station. Bennett supervised mounted beach patrols and coordinated security for a January 1942 visit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who stayed at the Hillsboro Mile home of U.S. Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr.
Thomas Knight: Knight served from 1911 to 1936, with a six-month gap in 1919 when the family moved to Jupiter. His father and grandfather had been keepers of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse. Knight is credited with rescuing 20 ocean vessels and at least eight seaplanes and riding out six hurricanes at the top of the lighthouse. He had a locally famous brother, Theodore “Cap” Knight, who built “Cap’s Place,” a Lighthouse Point restaurant that opened in 1929 and is still around.
Knight’s grandson, Sheldon Voss, a Coconut Creek resident, said he will be visiting the cemetery for the first time for the Aug. 7 ceremony.
“My mother told all these fantastic stories” about growing up at the lighthouse, said Voss, 74, a lighthouse volunteer and retired music store owner. “Being Thomas Knight’s descendant is like the gift that keeps on giving. Every time I turn around, I meet someone who knew of my family or is enthusiastic about lighthouses and history.”
Contemporary boaters, many with GPS to guide them, are not as dependent on lighthouses as a navigational aid as they used to be. Today, almost all lighthouses are automated, meaning their lights run on timers, or in the case of Hillsboro, a photo cell that goes on at dusk and turns off at dawn.
The preservation society operates a museum, which is open daily, and conducts tours once a month that are open to the public when they join the society.
Krugler said the lighthouse is in fairly good condition and safe for visitors to climb. The society is working to raise $2 million toward renovation, which in the first phase will include replacing the bottom struts that support the structure.
“It’s not going to fall over, but we don’t want it to get any worse,” Krugler said.
The U.S. Lighthouse Keeper ceremony will be at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, at Pompano Beach Cemetery, 400 SE 23rd Ave. Afterward, join participants for a gathering at Cap’s Place in Lighthouse Point. Visit hillsborolighthouse.org for more information.
