Abbie Burgess

Who was Abbie Burgess?

Abbie Burgess was an American lighthouse keeper known for her bravery in tending the Matinicus Rock Light, in Maine, during a raging winter storm in 1856. She tended the light for nearly a month while her father, the head keeper, was away from the island. Her heroic actions attracted much attention, and she was soon a popular heroine.

Burgess later married a lighthouse keeper, and spent fifteen years as the keeper at the nearby Whitehead Light. After her death in 1892, a memorial in the form of an aluminum scale replica lighthouse was placed over her grave in Spruce Head Cemetery.