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American Lighthouse Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 565
Rockland,
Maine 04841
Phone: 207-594-4174
Fax: 207-596-1091
info@lighthousefoundation.org
The American Lighthouse Foundation is a
Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization dedicated to the
preservation of America's historic
lighthouses & lightships and
their heritage.
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Little River Lighthouse Hosts First
Ever Community Church Service
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On Sunday,
September 3, the Little River Lighthouse in Cutler hosted its first-ever
church service in the 159-year history of the historic light station.
Over 50 people from the small Downeast community, along
with a number of volunteers of the American Lighthouse Foundation,
boated to the 15-acre island in the |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Over 50 people journeyed out to the
island to participate in the historic church service
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Bay of Fundy for a Sunday morning church service held by the Cutler United
Methodist Church.
“This is a dream come true for me,” said 79-year-old Hal Biering, a
lighthouse volunteer from Alabama, who has been coming to Maine for the past
four summers along with his wife Betty, to work on the restoration of the
endangered lighthouse. Biering said he has been talking to Pastor David
Arruda and other church leaders about having a Sunday worship service on the
island for some time, but wanted to wait until restoration was nearly
complete and at a stage when people could visit the island safely.
As the day planned for the service approached, he and others listened
intently to the weather reports about Tropical Storm Ernesto as it worked |
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
(L to R) Hal Biering and Tim Harrison
explain how the light station has been saved
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its way up the Atlantic seaboard and the weather reports
called for a rainy Sunday. Biering said, “Pastor Arruda’s prayers were
heard and the day for the service was picture perfect. In fact, it can’t
get much better up here than this, especially in an area that’s known
for its fog.”
A portable organ and sound system brought to the island
helped to deliver the message from Pastor Arruda as he spoke of the
correlation of religion and lighthouses. This was the first time Pastor
Arruda, who commutes eleven hours each way every week to give Sunday
services in the tiny community, had ever given a |
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sermon on an island or at a lighthouse. For the
occasion he wore a new robe that was donated by lighthouse volunteer Hal Biering.
Most of the congregation was ferried to the island by local tour boat
operator and lobsterman Andy Patterson. Upon arriving at the island, some of
the elderly members were given a ride on a trailer pulled by the lighthouse
tractor to the other side of the 15-acre island where the church service was
conducted with the picturesque lighthouse tower as a back-drop.
For many of the people who attended the church service it was their very
first visit to the island lighthouse. However, for those who had been there
before, when it was in a state of collapse and overgrown with trees, they
were amazed at the difference. One church parishioner exclaimed, “I would
never have believed this was possible, the restoration is so complete! The
many volunteers of the American Lighthouse Foundation have done an
outstanding job and Hal Biering, the man from Alabama, who spent four
summers working here should get some kind of an award for his skill and
dedication.”
The island lighthouse has close ties to the community of Cutler with many
descendants of the last U. S. Lighthouse Service keeper Willie Corbett |
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still living in the town who are members of the church.
Many of them attended the service, including 90-year old Neil Corbett,
who spent 16 years of his life on the island, leaving when he joined the
Army prior to the outbreak of World War II. Delia Farris, Willie
Corbett’s granddaughter, rowed her boat to the island, a tradition
started many years ago by her mother Ruth Corbett Farris who grew up on
the island.
Delia Farris mentioned that this was not only the first
church service on the island, but it was also the birthday of Willie
Corbett, the last Lighthouse Service keeper of Little River |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Neil Corbett enjoys the service
on the island he grew up on while
his dad was the keeper of
Little River Light..
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Lighthouse who served there from 1921 to 1939. Pastor Arruda
then added that it was also the birthday of Tim Harrison, president of the
American Lighthouse Foundation, who was in attendance at the church service
and is the person who led the drive to save and restore the endangered
lighthouse, to which, the organist, Ruth Farris, without any prompting,
started playing Happy Birthday to Harrison, as everyone joined in with song.
Most appropriately the church service ended with the congregation singing
the old hymn, “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning.”
To learn more about the nonprofit volunteer American Lighthouse Foundation
or to make a donation toward their ongoing restoration and maintenance of
the historic Little River Lighthouse you can write us at P.O. Box 889,
Wells, ME 04090, email
info@lighthousefoundation.org
or call 207-646-0245.
Posted: 9/6/06 |
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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Pastor David Arruda is wearing
a new white robe that was purchased by Hal Biering and
given to the pastor as a gift.
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