Benjamin Eldridge Burgess, Jr.

One of the earlier keepers, Benjamin Eldridge Burgess, who started in 1867, married his second wife at the light and reared seven children there. They even took in three grandchildren following their mother’s death. Tragically, three of Burgess’ daughters died within four years of each other. He was praised for the “exquisite neatness and order” of the station and described as a “good man, a good servant of Uncle Sam, and a saver of countless lives.” After nearly forty years at Browns Head, Burgess retired in 1905 at the age of eighty-one. For the last few years of his career, Keeper Burgess had been the oldest keeper in the lighthouse service.

Historically, the Fox Islands were home to the “Red Paint People,” who arrived 3,800 to 5,000 years ago, followed later by the Abenaki and other Native Americans. European explorers sailed by in the 1500s, followed in 1603 by English Captain Martin Pring, who dubbed them the Fox Islands for the abundant gray foxes found there. English settlements did not begin in the area in earnest until after the French and Indian Wars in 1763 and then increased quickly after the Revolutionary War. In the Fox Islands, the island and town of Vinalhaven were named for John Vinal, Esquire, who defended islanders in a 1785 court case. The other major island in the Fox Islands became known as North Haven. Browns Head Lighthouse was set on the northwestern corner of Vinalhaven Island to guide trade ships navigating Fox Islands Thoroughfare, the mile-wide strait the runs between the two islands.