Southold Historical Museum proudly announces that Stella Maria Prince Terry is taking her rightful place in history after the Coast Guard added her to the official list of Women Lighthouse Keepers on February 17, 2023, 120 years after she served.
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Stella was the only woman lighthouse keeper at Horton Point Lighthouse in Southold, NY. From June 1903 through November 1904, she officially served as the ‘Acting Assistant Keeper’ – a federal job title indicating the holder to be the temporary head keeper by order of President Theodore Roosevelt. She lived at Horton Point Lighthouse for 34 of her 60 years.
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Mary Korpi, a volunteer docent at Southold Historical Museum’s Nautical Museum at Horton Point, learned of Stella’s work and researched original sources to write her book: The Lady Lighthouse Keeper (Lulu.com, Feb. 2022), a work of historical fiction based on the life of Stella Prince. One of the original documents Korpi examined was the Coast Guard’s Official List of Women Lighthouse Keepers, which included 138 women keepers who served between 1828 and 1947, but not Stella. To rectify the oversight, Korpi communicated with Mark Mollan, Coast Guard Deputy Historian in Washington, who suggested contacting the National Archives to obtain her employment history. With the assistance of Reference Librarian Jerry Matovcik, from Mattituck-Laurel Library, Korpi contacted an archivist at the National Archives in New York City, where proof of Stella’s employment was obtained and forwarded to Mollan, who added her to the list.
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Stella Maria Prince Terry has finally taken the appropriate place in history – with her female peers who served in this most atypical role. She was a remarkable and extraordinary woman of her day.
She is listed as Stella Prince on the list here:
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