Have you signed the guest book during your visit to the Montauk Lighthouse? This volume, titled “Lights & Shadows of Montauk,” comes from the Montauk Historical Society’s collection, and it covers the Lighthouse’s guests during the period from 1820 to 1860, when many visitors stayed at the keeper’s home.
Before the Lighthouse opened as a museum in 1987, it saw generations of visitors, but the isolating miles between Amagansett and Montauk did not make for an easy day trip when it was commissioned in 1792. In 1837, the keeper’s home was renovated to allow additional guests to board there.
Most of the entries in this guest book are from the 1830s to 1840s, during the 1832-49 tenure of keeper Patrick T. Gould (1799-1879), who kept extensive records of the Lighthouse’s operations. Guests’ interactions with Gould are recorded, and they often refer to how knowledgeable and hospitable he and his wife, Jerusha Dayton Fithian Gould (1805-1879), were, and how enjoyable the visits were.
Entries typically show guests’ names and towns, along with the dates they visited Montauk. Sometimes an entry will include impressions of a stay or local facts learned while visiting. Some guests added drawings and impressions of their stay, with drawings ranging from doodling on signatures to portraits, or sketches of animals or the Lighthouse itself.
The Montauk Lighthouse’s guest books continue to collect entries from visitors, and you can sign one on your next trip, which can be made for free during regular hours with your East Hampton Library card, thanks to the museum pass program. Pass availability and other participating museums are listed at easthamptonlibrary.org; just scroll down to a link under the “Library Resources” heading.
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Kristen Ahearn is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection.
