We are now one week into the Essex Heritage boat trips to Bakers Island Light Station.  After seventy years without public access, Essex Heritage tour guides welcome visitors to Bakers Island who come from Salem on the 18-passenger Naumkeag.

Every day we are learning how important Salem Harbor was to American merchants after the lifting of the British-imposed Navigation Acts.  After 1776, Salem merchants could trade all over the world.  Did you know that Salem was named after Jerusalem, "City of Peace?" 

Independence Day was gala out here on Bakers.  Our daughter and two granddaughters spent the weekend with us in the Keepers House.  Marty Nally, the mason restoring the outside of the lighthouse, and his family, stayed in the Assistant Keepers house.

At least 50-60 guests came over on the three-times-a-day Naumkeag.  Everyone either heard our granddaughter sing "It's a Grand Old Flag" or see that she was the only brave one to wear a bathing suit into the cold, cold North Shore waters that surround us.  Hard shell lobsters eaten in the evening, al fresco, had to be opened with tools out of the workshop:  hammer, pliers and wrench.  And then the fireworks!  Up and down the whole North Shore, seen from our lawn.


Another July 4th accomplishment was to have the flag once again flying from the lighthouse and to uncover the Coast Guard helicopter pad.  With the help of the masons, the 10 foot long lanyard, 50 feet high, was restrung and the 8X10 flag was unfurled for all to see on July 4th.  We uncovered the bricks of the heli pad, buried under 4-6 inches of sod, and repainted "striping safety yellow" to restore a piece of 1960's Coast Guard history.

The restoration of the outside of the lighthouse is in the final phase of three coats of special paint.  It has been an amazing process, removing yellow lichen and revealing a white tower.  When visitors look inside at the 48 narrow stairs leading to the lantern room, most everyone remarks about how hard life must have been for light keepers of old, carrying whale "lard" or kerosene up, maintaining the light every night, cleaning up after burning dirty fuels, and making do with whatever could be raised or grown for food.  How different it is for us.  

With a beautiful Fourth of July just past, we are ready to greet many happy visitors on the Essex Heritage Naumkeag and for the rest of our six grandchildren to experience Bakers Island Light Station.  In the meantime, picture Greg and Mary tooling around Salem Harbor in our Boston Whaler.