Keepers of the light
Finding Lucie
I had heard of a woman on the island who’d grown up on lighthouse property (L’Anse-a-la-cabane). She was only a young girl when she would observe her father (Charles Cormier) climb the tower steps to ignite the kerosene lamp to ward danger from passing travelers — as did her grandfather. (William Cormier)
The daughter of a guardian:
people referred to the family by their community-appointed name, La Light
Lucie-a-Charlie-la-Light (Charlie rather than Charles because he was married to an Irish woman.)
Lucie was the last out of 10 children to be born at L’Anse-a-la-Cabane.
They used the lighthouse like a silo theater and dramatically act to an audience at the base, while at night, her father routinely ascended the spiraling theater stage to check on the kerosene lamp and reset the weighted pulley.
A lighthouse’s light source was originally a kerosene lamp. A thick cord was coiled around the lamp and through a series of pulleys was tied to a weight. The lighthouse guardian had to reset the mechanism several times through the night.
She and her siblings loved to take tourists up to the lighthouse peak to share with them a view that she refers to as “La vue de mon enfance”, where in every direction was met by a blue horizon wall.
During the summer, she and her siblings swam in the ocean under the watchful eye of the lighthouse.
Today, in old age, she has kept up with the tradition and bathes in the ocean every day; even in winter.
In our last moments together, as I was just about ready to leave she grabbed me by the arm and looked into my eyes, saying through the lips of her whistling smile:
“Rappelez-vous! L’eau est la couleur du firmament.”
(Remember! Water is the color of the firmament.)
Firmament definition:
The heavens or the sky, especially when regarded as a tangible thing.
I was enamored but conclusively saddened by what she had just told me.
I saw how slowly she walked into the ocean, and I saw where her stare hung as the water buried more of her flesh with every…slowing……step.
The horizon. The Firmament.
Four of the six lighthouses were retired from use in the late 1980s.
Since then, no light has ever shone again at L’Anse-a-la-Cabane.
A sorrowful conclusion for a family who was named after its fire.
A list of Magdalen’s lighthouses:
Bird rock 1870
L'Anse-à-la-Cabane 1870 - 1871
L'Île d'Entrée 1874
L'Étang-du-nord 1874
L’Ile Brion 1905
Havre-aux-Maisons (Cap Alright) 1928
