Nauset Light: A Personal Legacy
Mary wrote in 1995, “A tower without a setting; a setting without a tower–neither should be the fate of the Nauset Light Station. Because what draws people to the Nauset Light Station—to photograph it, to paint it, to appreciate it—is not just the Lighthouse itself. It is (as noted by a dear friend) the “proud composition” of all three historic structures, standing together atop this cliff.”
As the greater responsibility that she felt to the historic preservation of the Keeper’s House, to Cape Cod, and to posterity far exceeded concern for her own personal financial status, Mary responded to the “call” by stepping forth at the critical moment and donating her beloved Keeper’s House (and Oil House) and remaining land, while retaining a Permit that enabled continued private use for a period of 25 years. In so doing, she fulfilled her longstanding mission to seal the long-term fate of the Keeper’s House (and Oil House) in the manner she believed was morally right, thereby cementing an enduring “Personal Legacy” in the form of a permanently reunited tripartite Nauset Light Station.
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Description
In Mary Daubenspeck’s previous book, Nauset Light: A Personal History (1995, also available on this website), she shared her deep sense of appreciation for her Nauset Light Keeper’s House, the fortuitous path that led her to become its second private resident owner, and her willing acceptance of its incumbent ultimate responsibilities with respect to its longer-term preservation.
As a writer, Mary had intended to publish a second book during her lifetime in which she documented her Keeper’s House experience—and intimate involvement—during the relocation of Nauset Light, the Oil House and the Keeper’s House in the late 1990’s to save them from being claimed by the sea, due to erosion. Unfortunately, fate did not grant her this opportunity, and she passed away in 2001 from colon cancer.
Mary’s passion for the Keeper’s House and the Nauset Light Station, and her overriding sense of personal responsibility proved to be the dynamic effectual forces behind the long-term preservation of the three landmark structures together—Lighthouse, Keeper’s House, and Oil House—in their now-permanent, historic, orientation within a few feet of each other.
Mary’s lived experience of the years just before, during, and after the Lighthouse relocation (1996) and Keeper’s House move (1998) were fraught with stress and anxiety as she fought the good fight—a stalwart lone advocate for the Keeper’s House, determined to make the “right” things happen in the face of limited options while metered by Nature’s clock, as the drumbeat of the surf grew ever louder.
This is the story in Mary’s own words, of her life during that time, that struggle, and ultimately its hard-won outcome for the greater good. Mary’s personal eyewitness account of the Lighthouse relocation makes for delightful reading and brings the human dimension of the experience of that historic event to life. Today, her spirit lives on in the experience of her family and friends who’ve lived out the term of her Special Use Permit (to 2024), and in her public legacy to the Cape Cod community, with the Keeper’s House and Oil House permanently affixed in their historic positions together with Nauset Light.
This, Mary’s second book, Nauset Light: A Personal Legacy, co-authored and published by her brother, Tim Daubenspeck, also serves to document the 42-yr private ownership history of the Keeper’s House from the time of Mary’s purchase of it in 1982 through her death in 2001, and subsequently through the Daubenspeck Family’s term of private residency, which expired in 2024. Mary’s Keeper’s House ownership experience and her family’s subsequent tenancy makes for a captivating and honorable story of personal altruism and legacy.
– Tim Daubenspeck
Additional information
| Weight | 13 oz |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 9.25 × .25 × 11 in |
