New Canal Lighthouse

We recently posted about Kate Walker, the lighthouse keeper of the Robbins Reef Light in New York harbor for close to 35 years. Kate took over as keeper when her husband died of pneumonia in 1886. Oddly enough, in the 1800s, when women weren’t allowed to vote or own property, they could become lighthouse keepers.

Curbed New Orleans has posted an article about the female lighthouse keepers of the New Canal Lighthouse, on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, LA. They quote Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation Education Center director Chris Cook, who said, “Across the country, it wasn’t unusual for the man to die and the wife to take over. It is unusual that it happened so many times in the New Orleans area.”

Between 1847 and 1930, five women served as keepers of the New Canal Lighthouse. Elizabeth Beattie kept the lighthouse from 1847 to 1848; Jane O’Driscoll from 1850 to 1853; Mary Campbell from 1870 to 1895; her daughter Caroline Campbell Riddle from 1895 to 1924; and Margaret “Madge” Norvell from 1924 to 1932.

“Madge” Norvell, the last of the five, is quoted saying, “There isn’t anything unusual in a woman keeping a light in her window to guide menfolk home. I just happen to keep a bigger light than most women because I have got to see that so many men get safely home.”