Light Hearted Lite #5 – Terry Rowden, Little River, Maine

Terry Rowden This is an edited version of an interview that originally appeared in Light Hearted episode 25 in September 2019. Terry Rowden, a native of Michigan, served as a keeper at Little River Light Station in Cutler, Maine, for the U.S. Coast Guard from 1968 to 1970. Almost four decades later, when the Friends of Little River Lighthouse was founded as a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, Terry became a volunteer. For ten years, he has been the resident caretaker on the island. Also taking part in the interview is Bob Trapani Jr., the executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The interview took place inside the keeper’s house at Little River. Little River Light Station. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
You are listening to light hearted the official
podcast of the United States Lighthouse Society.
My name is Jeremy Don.
Welcome.
Today is 06/20/2024,
And this is the fifth episode of light
hearted light.
A series where we hear edited versions of
interviews from the past 5 years. In this

(00:31):
installment, we're going to listen to an interview
with Terry Rode,
The longtime caretaker at little River light station
in color on the Northern Main coast.
Terry Rode is a native of Michigan, He
initially served as a keeper at Little River
light station for the Us Coast guard from
19 68 to 70. It was then that
he met a local young woman named Cynthia,

(00:53):
and Terry and Cynthia eventually married.
When the friends of Little River Lighthouse was
founded as a chapter of the American Lighthouse
foundation in 2008,
Terry became a volunteer.
For 10 years, he has been the resident
caretaker on the island. In 20 16, Terry
was awarded President's award from the American Lighthouse
Foundation for his exe commitment to the organization's

(01:16):
historic Lighthouse preservation mission.
Terry was interviewed for this podcast back in
July of 20 19.
Also taking part in the interview is Bob
Tu Junior, who was the executive director of
the American Lighthouse foundation. The interview took place
inside the keepers house at Little River. Let's
listen to an edited version of our conversation,

(01:36):
with Terry Road now.
I am here in the kitchen in the,
keep quarters at Little River Light station in
beautiful Cutlery Main, and I am here with
Terry Rode.
Thanks so much for joining me today, Terry.
I really appreciate it.
And also with me today is my good

(01:57):
friend Bob Trap, Junior executive director of the
American Lighthouse Foundation.
Terry, you were only 21 years old when
you originally became a coast guard light keeper
here at Little River light station.
Well, being that young, and I'm originally from
just outside of Detroit, Michigan
and just coming into Cut to start with
small fishing village and then coming and coming

(02:19):
out to the island.
It took a little getting used to. I
I was never,
used to having a 4 party line,
the telephone line.
When I grew off in Michigan, and we
always had private lines. So that took it
a little bit get getting used to, But
I knew once I got here that it's...
It's like it it drew me here like
a magnet. Mh. There were 3 of us

(02:41):
a stationed here. 1 would be off on
on rotation. So we'd we'd work 14 days
on, and we get 7 off. So that
was really good for good duty. And and
then plus I got 30 days leave a
year.
Was good duty. Even though it was here
isolated.
And how long were you? Here. I was
here for 2 years. 2 years. It and
you met your wife to be here. I

(03:03):
sir certainly did. She was beautiful land. She's
even more beautiful not.
She lets me be a keeper here. So
caretaker take her here. So it's... You know,
we... I decided not to go back to
Michigan.
We decided that we would raise our kids
here, and I'm glad I did, because I...
I'm here Am I'm back. At 71 years

(03:24):
old. Mh. And she's...
1 of the leading volunteers for the friends
a little over life I couldn't do this
without her. Yeah. So you're really a team.
She's a real trooper when I need things,
She... You know, she goes to town and,
you know, I I said, III couldn't be
able to do it without her. Maybe the...
If you could say a little bit more
about what it was like here in those
days.

(03:45):
It was nice in the summertime,
but in the wintertime, it was it was
for kinda loan link. Without... Yeah. It it
was cold.
I... Everything with ice up.
You know, we would limit our trips back
and forth.
We always made sure we had plenty of
food on hand.
And I think they paid me
72 dollars extra a month to buy my

(04:05):
groceries, and we would go to... We grew
up with the Navy base at the comm
store.
We got good choice of food that we
wanted and it took a while to get
used to being in,
you know, on an island, but you know,
your cars in town, and it was... It,
you know, you were you were kinda stuck
right here. This is... You couldn't leave too
much. But it was I I actually enjoyed

(04:26):
it. I must have enjoyed it because
I'm... I you know, I love a place
now or even more. You know, Terry, even
though the islands not that far from the
mainland. 10 minute ride in? Mh, you speak
of the cold, and we know this house
is not insulated. Right. At all.
You guys, not only were you having to
deal with the cold weather,
But now you can't even really get your

(04:47):
boat in the town.
The house could not have been heated that
great at all times. I'm sure you had
maybe 1 or 2 rooms that were better
than the others, but
No you guys do. How how'd you guys
deal with that? Well, halfway across the island
across from the... The granite oil house.
We had 5000 gallons of fuel.
The boy tender would come in the fall
of the air, I'd I'd stick the tanks

(05:09):
to find out how much fuel I had
to what was gonna take on
and there was a pipeline that went all
the way down to the boat house, and
I'd take the pea pod
and
I took a... They give me a handheld
radio.
And I would
float the hose in, hook up, come up
here and I tell him I set the
valves just where you I needed to pretty

(05:30):
which tank to fill. And I was in
constant
contact with the engine room... So that it
pumped it pumped the fuel in, and there
was no thermostat in his house.
A I joke about it now, but
I always used to say that the wind
will come through the window this eastern window
at 60 miles an hour and go out
through that other
aside the house the 80 miles an hour.

(05:52):
But because we had
so much fuel, fuel was super cheap them
days.
The furnace had an on and off switch,
or thermostat. And once it got cold, the
furnace would run continually. It would never shut
off.
So... For these cast iron radiators,
we were plenty more. It it's like trying
to heat the lobster trap, but but it

(06:12):
was you know, we we were warm. We
were warm. So Not only taken a brick
to bed a heated brick to bed. Right.
Right.
Yeah.
It was... It was challenging and when we
get out of snow, especially if you got
the big Northeastern.
Yeah. Any particularly memorable storm. Storms while you
were here? I get a call from Southwest
Harbor. The group commander and they sent a

(06:33):
message down, telling us to make sure that
the generators...
Everything's up.
Fluid levels are all up and going
because we're gonna get a big North.
I was stationed with a guy from Knoxville,
Tennessee, and his name was Johnny Walker.
Of course, of course.
So Johnny, and I we had the duty
that particular storm.
And I said, well, I can, of wait

(06:55):
for a treaty blow down in town
and lose the the main
cable from the mainland,
power from the mainland or I think we'll
start the generator right now.
And I have to deal with it. So
I said I think that's what I'm gonna
do. And went out and started the generator,
and then
we went to bed.
Next morning I got up. I couldn't... I

(07:16):
come down the stairs,
and I couldn't... I looked out the the
the window in the stair.
The I couldn't see the tower door at
all. There's the snow was up that high.
And I said to Johnny, where is the
snow shovel at? And he says they're out
on the on the back porch. Where we
couldn't you couldn't even see them. You, they
were... We snowed it under. It it it

(07:36):
actually came up to 2 panes on the
glass
right there. The snow was drifted around there
and I had to crawl out the office
window
with 2 dust pants. I got out of
a dust pants first, shovel a little bit.
And then, Johnny got out in between both
of us. We shovel our way to the
porch to get the snow shovel.

(07:57):
And then we shovel all the way to
the the tower,
once we got the tower, the outside door
swings out, so we had to make room
for that to swing open. And it was
gonna of a challenge, but that was probably
the biggest storm that I've ever been in.
Mh. And it was wet, heavy snow. It
beautiful here in the summertime. It's beautiful in
the wintertime. The sea smoke is is beautiful.

(08:18):
As long as you don't have to go
out in it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now So
muddy c is gold.
I never took... When I was a young
man, I never took in consideration what it
took to build place out here. I mean,
to build that tower,
how heavy that must have been to bring
them sections out here and put them together,
and I just... I... I'm just an awe

(08:39):
truck right now how they did it. Yeah.
Well, even maybe even more so the original
stone to was house them house big granite
blocks and granite Stone is.
Super heavy. And how they got in the
cross, I don't think they brought it from
out here on the front side of the
island, they had to have come on the
beach side out inside the harbour there. Mh.

(09:00):
Well, at 21 years old, though, If I'm
my memory serves me correct. You had some
good ingenuity when it came to figuring out
how to watch Tv.
Johnny and I were out here, and
in the middle night, we heard just big
crash. It was a storm, and there was
a... On the roof, I don't know how
old it was. It was quite old. There
was a 20 foot pole,

(09:21):
tele pole, 02:10 foot sections.
And it had an antenna Tv antenna, and
it had a rotor I don't that you
you could turn that thing around. Well you
could only get 2 channels anyway. I did
get a channel, Saint. John's D Brunswick,
or I could get Mp in, and and
this was a black of white Tv now.
The antenna come down in Mill night, Guide

(09:41):
wires rusted away. The antenna was pretty well
trash.
So like, I called up saw West Harbor,
1 of the s keeper, and I said,
I gotta see about... I explain over what
happened and I said, I'd like to go
up uptown and purchase a new antenna and
and some new guide wire and stuff.
Well, the store keeper said, what times are
hard right now Is is that you're gonna

(10:02):
have to make do with what you got.
And I said, well, okay? So I said,
who I speaking with? He gave me his
name, and I I got on the station
log, and I wrote it down. I ended
up pickle. I took a hacks saw, cut
piece off. And that's the longest piece of
the straight
and we kinda hooked the antenna together.
And I took it up on top of

(10:23):
the tower, and I took a pipe cap.
Off the 1 corner post.
And I put the put it down in
there. I put the pipe down in there
with the antenna, what was left of it.
We attached the,
like a boom on it, and I took
some clothes line rope in 2 pulley,
and I hooked it down here to the
the porch out here, and I could I

(10:43):
can pull up channel 1 way pull it,
and I could get you new Brunswick. And
I pulled up Way. Well, that was fine.
We're good.
In the spring,
I gotta call the officers
from Southwest Harbour and the chiefs come out
for an inspection. It was a chief warrant
officer.
When he saw that clothes line after, he...
For some reason, he didn't see the the

(11:03):
antenna. And he says what in the world
is that clothes line robe doing on that
hour. I said, Sir Over here. I said,
Johnny, turn the Tv on channel
9.
So Johnny turns the T tv v on,
and I looked through the window. And I
and I had the officer standing on the
deck right there. And I pulled it 1
way like that and channel 9 come in.
Fairly good. Then as said turn 13, and

(11:26):
he went back, and I pulled it the
other way, and he says,
job well done. Right. And it stayed there.
I don't know how many years it, I
think when they close this I'm 74 about.
I've got pictures of and was still up
there, they didn't bother to get another antenna.
I was scared right the death though when
he said, what does that close lying? He
I thought he was gonna... I didn't wanna
be d demoted at all. Yeah.

(11:48):
I don't know if Terry shares are love.
We love basketball,
but I know they even got a little
bit of a basketball
story here too. Right? Yeah. There was an
old barn here.
Back when when Willie Cor and the Cor
lived here. The only thing was left to
it when I got here in 19 68
was the floor. So Johnny and I
we fixed a pot a basketball Hub up,

(12:10):
and we used it as a court. And
the first thing you wanna be careful of
is is don't stub your toe. And fall
down and get a sliver because it's not
good. When it was a kind of... It
was a it was something to stand there
and just shoot hoops, but it was just
floor. There were no no walls or no
nothing. Just... So if you if you shot
like, an air ball, the ball could end

(12:30):
up in the in the water. The no
it went in the woods. Okay. In the
woods here. Okay. Yeah.
Johnny would go to Tennessee,
he would go to Tennessee every time he
had a time off. Is And before I
met my wife, I used to go to
detroit Michigan. And
if I wore my uniform, I could fly

(12:50):
from Bang to Portland, Portland to Manchester. And
hampshire.
Manchester Hampshire to detroit and back for 52
dollars.
Mh. But that was a lot of money.
I mean, but, yeah. Especially when you don't
make much. I didn't make much money. And
I on a coast guard, but then my
met my wife, and and that...
The rest of the z. Yeah. Yeah.

(13:12):
And to just flash forward a few years,
you've now been, caretaker for for several years.
Right? When they when A left took this
island took over the island here,
I,
I would come out Mow lawns. I didn't
do too much of the the, volunteer stuff
inside.

(13:32):
I now now that I'm the caretaker here,
Like, I was just saying a minute ago.
You
you would like... You love the island so
much. You don't really wanna leave it. And
like my sign says,
if once you have ever slept on an
island, you'll never be quite the same. Yes.
Well, you're you're really the 20 first century

(13:52):
keeper. You know, some of us who are
kind of pure about lighthouse history, a little
hesitant to use the word keeper for... Right.
For people who are... Because the light is
automated. The light comes on by itself. But
in... For all intents and purposes, you are
you are the the keeper. To know. You
know, all I know is it's
if once you come here and see the

(14:13):
beauty of, my front yard is here.
It's it's
it's breathtaking.
Absolutely.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. It... It's a it's magic.
It's absolute magic. I guess. You've been here
as caretaker since 20 15. You've seen people
from all over the world. Right? We have
guests from everywhere on. I have

(14:33):
they come from Italy. I've had quite a
few people from Italy come. I've had... I
think the furthest 1, it was
husband and wife from Australia.
And then there was 1 from Hobart Tasmania,
which is just off
Australia,
I've had him from Saint. Petersburg, Russia,
San Pablo, Brazil,

(14:54):
of course, all of the states a lot
of the states in Canada. And
surprisingly enough everybody that comes here,
they don't wanna leave either.
You know, it it it grows on you.
I think that's a great point. And we
have a lighthouse here, of course, and that's
the primary attraction for people, but it's much
more than I when you see all these
guests. There's a lot of emotion. Yeah. I

(15:15):
mean, you know, people are are crying when
they have to lead, they're just some of
the life changing. It is. Things that can
happen at a place like this, and it's
not... Just about the latest, and that's the
beautiful thing. Is this is really
a 1 of a kind experience. Right. I'm
just fortunate. I'm so fortunate to be, you
know, to have a wife to let me
do this.
1 of these days is gonna come to
an end. I don't know when. III

(15:37):
lived all winter long,
dreaming about being back here again.
In the spring.
And
I usually do a I usually do a
project.
And this year, I worked on my... The
plaster in my my bedroom here
And,
you know, I I pick a project that
I can do before the the guest started
Coming mean. Because the once they come here,

(15:58):
it's you know, I keep them long... I'm
mow lawn and stuff like that, but I
don't do
a lot of you know, bigger projects,
but because it's more fun to sit and
talk to the people from around the world.
I mean, and I I had 1 1
couple that came here.
They were from
Milan Italy
They got married young couple. They got married

(16:18):
in April.
They spent... They flew in New York City.
They they were New York for 3 weeks.
They went to Washington and Dc.
They went Florida,
Las Vegas, Las Vegas. They went to California.
They went out... They went all the way
around. They didn't get out here and Until
in Eighth and in August.

(16:38):
And he he happened to be they an
interior designer
architect of
restaurant daisy. What he said restaurant day. So
it's interested to talk to him, and they
could cook Italian food. It was
unbelievable.
And that's the fun part. I I volunteer
there, but I wouldn't take a dime, and
I wouldn't

(16:58):
it's change change it the way it is
because just being able to have these people
come here and to talk to them at
night and
see how they live and it it's there...
It's funny thing that we think that we
wanna go somewhere to, I say in Europe
somewhere, but you can't get any... More beautiful
than what this... Places right air. True. Well,
I'll tell you what Terry. We are super
grateful as the American Lighthouse Foundation to have

(17:20):
you as a caretaker.
In many ways, you are still on watch
after all these years.
And, you know, we just encourage
people to,
take a try. Come stay a little river
a lighthouse, get the meet terry, get the
experience this island,
and to learn how you can do that.
You can go to little river light dot
org. And learn all about this wonderful place.

(17:42):
Well, this is the easiest interview I ever
did having Youtube 2 guys here.
Terry, It's it's just
it's...
Moving to hear you talk about it because
the the love is so apparent that you
have for this place. Mh. And, you know,
I've only begun to be on the island
a handful of times over the past
15 years. 20... Actually, almost 20 years. I

(18:03):
first came out here with a group of
people. From the American Lighthouse foundation almost 20
years ago. But when I come here, it
does... It it has such a special feel
to it from So I I completely understand
the way you feel about it. Yep. And
like you say it's magical. It absolutely is.
And I echo Bob's sentiment that the American
Light House foundation is so lucky to have

(18:23):
somebody like you who who loves this place
so much and has been.
You've been so good to it, and it's
been good to you, so it's a it's
a great relationship. So thank you. Thank you,
Terry. Thank you, Bob so much. And again,
our listeners can find out more
at the say it again, bob, the website.
River light dot org. Mh. And And also

(18:44):
lighthouse foundation dot org, of course, for the
American Lighthouse foundations and all of the lights
that the foundation takes care of. So thank
you both so much. It's been a real
pleasure. Thank you, Jeremy. Thank you.
Terry. Thank you.
Terry Rode is thinking of stepping down as
the caretaker at Little River after the season,

(19:05):
which is his tenth there.
Whether her a naughty steps down, I wanna
wish Terry and Cynthia Rode all the best,
and I congratulate them for 10 years on
the island.
Terry and Cynthia are the kind of volunteers
who are the backbone of Lighthouse preservation organizations.
We will be back with the regulatory or
episode of light lighthearted the Sunday
and more episodes of lighthearted light will be

(19:27):
coming. For now to all our regular listeners
and our new ones. Thanks so much for
listening and keep a good light.