Nova Scotia Island Journal: Audella Decker, the lightkeeper's wife

In May 2011, after four years of life on McNutt's Island, we moved to Montreal. This blog remains, though, as a (sort of) daily record of our time on the island, and a winding path for anyone who would like to meander about among its magical places. For additional perspectives and insights I recommend Greg's book, Island Year: Finding Nova Scotia (2010), and my Bowl of Light (2012). I'll continue to post once in a while. If you do want to read this blog, one option would be to begin at the beginning of it (which is, as we all know, in blog-world, at the end), and read forward, concluding with the most recent entry. It's a journal, really, so it does makes more sense if you read it that way. But, you know, read it any way you like.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Audella Decker, the lightkeeper's wife

When Clara Dennis visited McNutt's Island in the 1930s she interviewed a lightkeeper whom she does not identify in her account of the trip. But she also took some photographs while she was here.

Clara Dennis NSARM accession no. 1983-468

Dennis identifies this photograph as "Lightkeeper's wife, Decker, McNutt's Island."

Beaumont Decker took over the lightkeeper's duties at Cape Roseway in 1919 and was still serving here during the Second World War. His wife's name was Audella. This is truly an unusual photographic record of the Cape Roseway light community in the 1930s.

This photograph can be found along with many fascinating images of Nova Scotian life from the early part of the twentieth century in NSARM's Virtual Exhibit of Clara Dennis.

Image courtesy of NSARM.