It seems there are two prevailing paths for women.
One is in the home: marry, care for husbands and children, cook and clean—the gender-role dreams of tradwives.
The other insists women should’ve been released from domestic shackles long ago. That life can only be good when women pursue independence through powerful careers. These are the fierce ambitions of fourth-wave feminism.
With this in mind, one might assume it’s only SAHMs and boss babes as far as the eye can see.
But the truth lies somewhere in between, and it’s been that way since the beginning.
Michigan’s female lighthouse keepers give us a glimpse. Their stories were collected in “Ladies of the Light” by Patricia Majher.
Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state, but did you know we’ve also had the most female lighthouse keepers? From 1849 to 1954, more than 50 of the lighthouse keepers along the Great Lakes were women.
One was Mary Garrity. She was assistant keeper to her husband at the New Presque Isle Light on Lake Huron. For 10 years, she worked skillfully, earning a good salary while raising seven children. When she died in 1912, the Alpena Evening News reported that, “Many a shipwrecked sailor and passenger has known Mrs. Garrity’s gentle attentions and kindly hospitality.”
Her daughter Anna was also a keeper at the nearby Presque Isle Harbor Range Lights. Anna was said to have stayed up all night on her front porch, watching the lights and ensuring safe passage for sailors. When the devastating Metz fire of 1908 engulfed most of the peninsula, Anna worked tirelessly with firefighters to keep the lights on and the fire at bay for a week. Anna never married, nor had children.
Catherine Shook was Michigan’s first female keeper—though not exactly by choice. Her husband had been keeper at Pointe aux Barques at the tip of the thumb. When he tragically drowned, Catherine was left with eight children to support and, perhaps out of necessity, took over his job. Less than a month later, a poorly constructed chimney caused the keeper’s house to go up in flames. Catherine sustained burns fighting the fire. Then she and her children built a small shanty nearby and maintained the light until a new house could be built.
Sarah Lane worked as unofficial keeper for more than 15 years alongside her husband at the tip of Old Mission Peninsula. Sarah was a cheery woman, frequently complimented for her lovely flower garden. When her husband fell gravely ill, she nursed him, while taking over nearly all of the lightkeeping duties. After his death, Sarah was named principal keeper but retired shortly later.
Michigan’s longest-serving female lightkeeper was Elizabeth Van Riper Williams. Elizabeth worked the light at Beaver Island and later at Harbor Springs. When her husband valiantly attempted to save sailors from a sinking ship and drowned, Elizabeth wrote, “I was weak from sorrow, but realized… there were others out on the dark and treacherous waters who needed to catch the rays of the shining light from my lighthouse tower. Nothing could rouse me but that thought, then all my life and energy was given to the work.” She served for 41 years.
What do female lighthouse keepers have to do with the tradwife movement or “lean-in” feminism?
Because these women defy stereotypes.
Female keepers worked hard. They were officially employed by the U.S. government and had all the same duties as men, save one. They didn’t have to paint their lighthouses because that required sitting high up in a hanging chair, which women’s fashions of the time did not politely permit.
Lights had to be kept burning all night. Wicks trimmed every four hours. Heavy oil barrels lugged up steep winding staircases. On stormy nights, lights needed constant monitoring. In winter, ice needed to be chipped off lantern windows. In fog, a steam-powered horn had to be blasted multiple times a minute, which required continually adding coal to a boiler day and night until the fog lifted.
For this noble employment, which saved countless lives, women were paid the same as men. Many found deep fulfillment in their work. Some focused solely on it and did not marry or have kids.
And yet, most women maintained their domestic roles as well. They married, had children, cooked, gardened, homeschooled. They wore the same clothes as all other women of the time—dresses. They excelled at household and caregiver duties: maintaining strict cleanliness, welcoming visitors, nursing sick loved ones, and caring for shipwrecked sailors.
These women’s lives were not shaped by some sort of mandate to “maintain tradition” or “break the glass ceiling.” Instead, they did what they had to, when they had to. They rose to the occasion, as women always have since time immemorial.
Whether in the home, out of the home, or both, the fact is that women have always worked. In fact, it’s hysterical to imagine any time throughout history when women were not sacrificing and toiling just as men were. It’s equally funny to think they all secretly resented having children and wanted to be CEOs. The simple fact is they didn’t make their life decisions based on a spun-up ideology.
Life is messier than all that. It requires different things of you at different times, and women are smart and resourceful. They step up and meet challenges. This is clear in the wide-ranging achievements of Michigan’s female lightkeepers.
It’s easy to romanticize the past or to imagine a different, better way, as ‘hustle’ feminism does. What we can learn from Michigan’s female lighthouse keepers is that women transcend both these rigid notions. And it does our sex a great disservice to think otherwise.
Faye Root is a writer and a homeschooling mother based in Northern Michigan. Follow her on X @littlebayschool.
