Twin Lights of Thacher Island, Cape Ann

Thacher Island was named for Anthony Thacher who, in 1635, lost his four children and other family members in a shipwreck during the most severe storm to ever hit the Massachusetts coast. Only Anthony and his wife Elizabeth survived. The lighthouses have played an important role in several wars, including the Revolutionary War and World Wars I and II, when the navy established a radio compass station to protect the coast from enemy submarines. A ship bearing a U.S. president almost wrecked on Thacher Island, and the island was used as a witness protection site for a Mafia criminal. Twin Lights of Thacher Island, Cape Ann captures the history, adventures, and intimate stories from over 200 years of lighthouse keepers living on the island, including how the two towers were built and how scientific discoveries were applied to improve the lights over the years.

Paul St. Germain is the president of the Thacher Island Association, a nonprofit volunteer organization. He has been a Rockport resident for 15 years and can see the island from his home. With assistance from the archives of the Sandy Bay Historical Society, he has put together a revealing record and a fascinating pictorial history of this fabled island.