SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE 120TH ANNIVERSARY: Time to Read KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

Illustration by Rachell Sumpter for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT.

Today is the 120th anniversary of the deadly 1906 San Francisco earthquake. That morning, across the Bay, on Angel Island, light keeper Juliet Nichols woke up to violent shaking.

I awake with a jolt. Everything is moving!

My bed thrashes like a boat in a storm. Dishes smash. Outside, the lamp swings wildly on its hook. I hang on for dear life and wish I were not so alone.

When the shaking stops. I inspect the house--

Storehouse cracked. Stone basement badly cracked. House plaster cracked.

--Luckily nothing that can't be fixed.

Juliet's story, before and after the earthquake, is the subject of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog (Cameron Kids/Abrams, 2022). Beautiful watercolor llustrations are by Rachell Sumpter. Read the book and find out how Juliet saved the day when the fog bell failed during the foggy summer after the earthquake and she had to ring the bell by hand.

The San Francisco Earthquake

At 5:12 a.m., April 18, 1906 a violent earthquake struck the city of San Francisco, toppling buildings, cracking streets and sidewalks, bursting water mains. The rupture extended both northward and southward for a total of 296 miles (476 km). Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles. No system of measurement was in place at the time, but it is thought today that the earthquake would have measured between 7.9 and 8.2 on the Richter scale.  Hundreds of buildings collapsed during the quake.  But the bigger disaster came from the fires the followed.  Without a water supply, it was difficult to fight the rapidly spreading flames. By the time the fires were out, 500 city blocks were destroyed, at least 700 people were dead, and more than 225,000 homeless.

REMEMBERING LIGHTKEEPER JULIA FISH NICHOLS during WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

Juliet Fish Nichols, Angel Island Lighthouse Keeper, 1902-1914.

Since 1987, March has been designated as Women's History Month, a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women. What better time to reacquaint yourself with Juliet Fish Nichols, the lightkeeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, who, in the very foggy summer after the disastrous 1906 San Francisco earthquake, kept the fog bell ringing to keep ships safe in the bay.

You can read all about Juliet and her heroic stint in July 1906 when fog bell machine broke and she rang the fog bell by hand for twenty hours straight, hitting the bell with her hammer every fifteen seconds until the fog lifted. The book is available on Amazon in both hardback and as a Kindle e-book.

The fog rolls in to San Francisco Bay. (Illustration by Rachell Sumpter.)

Learn more about Juliet at my website .

And learn about visiting Angel Island State Park, where you can see the giant bell and the platform where the lighthouse once stood, at my travel blog The Intrepid Tourist.

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NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE DAY: August 7th

Today is National Lighthouse Day! Celebrate by reading my book KEEPER OFTHE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog.

On National Lighthouse Day, August 7, we celebrate how these scenic, historic structures comforted travelers throughout the centuries. In 1789, the U.S. Congress passed an act securing the protection of all lighthouses under federal support.

If you ever visit a lighthouse, you’ll understand the serenity and stability they represent to viewers on land. While lighthouse technology has evolved over time, lighthouses were once widely used to mark dangerous reefs, shorelines or harbors. Today, we imagine how a lighthouse’s beacon of light offered hope to those seeking land in the midst of stormy seas and dark nights. (Lighthouse Museum, Staten Island, NY)

Illustration by Rachell Sumpter for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT of Juliet Nichols striking the fog bell.

 

PODCAST INTERVIEW ABOUT JULIET FISH NICHOLS: Victorian Women Lighthouse Keepers

Podcast about Juliet Fish Nichols and other Women Lighthouse Keepers

March is Women’s History Month and the perfect time to promote KEEPER OF THE LIGHT. It was a busy month. On March 4^th I presented a session about the book to teachers and librarians at the Charlotte Huck Children’s Literacy Festival in Redlands, CA. It included projects done by 4^th graders at a local school that were inspired by the book. (I had met with them earlier via Zoom.)

Last week I featured the book when I did an author visit at Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley. Some of the kids had been to Angel Island. All of them were familiar with the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and loved the illustration of Juliet’s house shaking on the morning of the earthquake. I rang a bell when I read about the fog bell machine.

And earlier this month I was interviewed by Suki Wessling at the Babblery in Santa Cruz about the book and Juliet Nichols, along with two other people who have researched other women lighthouse keepers in California—one of them Juliet’s mother, Emily Fish, the light keeper at Point Pinos, and the other Laura Hecox, light keeper in Santa Cruz. It was fun being interviewed by Suki and sharing stories with author Lynn Guenther, who researched and wrote about Laura Hecox, and actor/interpreter Eleanor Morrice, who portrayed Emily Fish.

The interview was broadcast on Sunday March 26 on the KSQD radio station in Santa Cruz and is now available as a podcast online. (It is an hour long—so you have to be willing to set aside an hour to listen to it.)

Even if you don't have time to listen to all of the program, be sure to read the blurb and take a look at the photos and the links. Try to imagine what it would be like to do all the work of a lighthouse keeper--cleaning, sweeping, polishing, climbing ladders, rowing or sailing a boat, winding up the fog bell machine-- wearing a long skirt and sometimes a bustle!

REVIEW of KEEPER OF THE LIGHT in The San Francisco Chronicle

I was pleased to discover this excellent review of my book, KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog, in the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook (April 21, 2022.) Written by librarian Susan Faust, it is a double review of my book and another, THE GARDENER OF ALCATRAZ, where the story is set on another famous island in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz.  Alcatraz and its tall lighthouse was visible to Juliet Nichols from her lighthouse on Angel Island. The two books together provide an interesting contrast in personalities--Juliet, a single woman lighthouse keeper, and Elliott Michener, a prisoner on Alcatraz who developed a love of gardening.

Here's Susan Faust's review of KEEPER OF THE LIGHT:

What’s a widow to do? In 1902, with little money, Juliet Fish Nichols successfully applies to be lighthouse keeper at Point Knox on the southwest side of Angel Island, according to this fictionalized account of her time on the job. Based on “true events and historical documents,” journal entries allow Nichols to describe her isolated world: noisy sea lions and gulls; her few neighbors, infrequent city trips and well-tended garden; and the work station itself, a small house on stilts at water’s edge with an oil lamp and a 3,000-pound bell. Ethereal paintings capture the thickening fog two months after the 1906 earthquake. With lamplight unable to penetrate a foggy “foe,” the bell becomes critical. Thus, when its mechanism fails, Nichols must swing a heavy mallet every 15 seconds through a long night to prevent ships from going aground. They are loaded with rebuilding supplies. Nichols’ grit and determination are standouts in this rather staid tale of heroism. Oddly enough, Nichols is here remembered more as “keeper of the bell” than “keeper of the light,” as the title suggests. But no matter: She’s duty-bound to keep Angel Island waters safe by whatever means necessary.

BOOK SIGNING AT ALA in WASHINGTON, DC

In the Junior Library Guild booth at ALA in Washington, DC

I had a great day on Saturday at ALA in Washington, DC, signing KEEPER OF THE LIGHT in the Abrams booth and PLANTING A GARDEN in the Charlesbridge booth, and cruising the aisles of the exhibit hall to see all the publishers' new books! 

In  the Abrams booth at ALA

Many thanks to Nina Greuner, publisher of Cameron Kids, and everyone in the Abrams booth for hosting me in the booth and keeping the signing line going smoothly. 

In the Charlesbridge booth at ALA

And thanks to Donna Spurlock, Meg Quinn, Lindsay and Jaliza, and everyone in the Charlesbridge booth for coordinating my signing there. At both booths we ran out of books before the hour was over! It was great meeting librarians from so many places.

I also stopped by the Junior Library Guild booth and posed for a photo with PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 which was a Spring selection.

Everyone in the convention center was required to be vaccinated and wear a mask (although I took mine off briefly for the photos.) Everyone, including me, seemed happy to be at a live, real person event!