Montauk Lighthouse keeper tells tall tales of history, a ghost and the next 200 years

Montauk Lighthouse Keeper Joseph Gaviola recounts the storied history of Long Island's most beloved landmark and how it's been preserved for generations to come.
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“I always loved the lighthouse. I loved fishing underneath it as a kid, surfcasting there, fishing in front of it with my dad, working on boats underneath it back when the Coast Guard ran it. It was commissioned by George Washington in 1792. It’s the fourth-oldest active lighthouse in the country and the oldest in New York.
“It’s ‘The End’ or ‘The Beginning,’ depending on which way you’re coming. I’m originally from Dix Hills but started visiting Montauk with my family in 1967. My family fell in love with Montauk so much we put a boat here and then, in 1974, my parents built a summer home on Lake Montauk.
“During college, I started working on boats in the area and at the yacht club as a busboy on weekends while going to college. I then went into the corporate world but always had a foot in Montauk.
“In 1987, my first daughter got critically ill right after birth. I was an executive in the mining business at the time, and my then-wife worked for a law firm, but we resigned and moved to Montauk for six months to bring our daughter back to health.
“We ended up staying for good and opening some businesses. We bought a building on Montauk Harbor; we opened a market, a bank branch, two different real estate companies and a liquor store.
“Meanwhile, that same year, the Montauk Historical Society asked to lease the property [the lighthouse], and the Coast Guard agreed. It was a slow start, as Dick White - then chairman of the historical society’s Lighthouse Committee - used to say, ‘When we first opened up to the public, we had a cigar box and did $6 in business.’
“There wasn’t a need for a keeper when the Coast Guard was there, but the society turned the lighthouse into a museum, and with that comes all the maintenance and responsibility of the property, which meant the return of a keeper.
“There’s a lot of upkeep necessary; the only things the Coast Guard still maintains are the beacon and the fog signal. Everything else the society maintains and pays for but, as the owners, receives no tax dollars from any entity. It’s paid for through gate admission, events and the gift shop.
“In 1996, the federal government transferred the property to the society, and I came on in the late ’90s. Due to my background, the Montauk Historical Society’s Lighthouse Committee chairman asked me to help navigate the finances, and as I have this long love for the lighthouse, I was all in. Today, I’m president of both the Montauk Historical Society and the Lighthouse Committee.
“Marge, the keeper before me, was here for 31 years until 2018. She was retiring from her regular job and wanted to move. I have two married daughters and I’m divorced, so I mentioned to the committee that if she ever left, ‘I want to go in there.’
“When she did leave, we needed someone with a full understanding of all the structure’s needs, and I put my hand up. It was a point in my life where it made sense. My first year we needed to gut-renovate the keeper’s quarters and bring it up to code.
“During that time, I lived in a trailer on the property, and then in the basement on an air mattress. It was a bit daunting. This is an old building, and there’s things to get used to and … we have a ghost. Her name is Abigail, the newlywed bride of a ship’s captain that shipwrecked here. She was the only survivor; she crawled up to the lighthouse and ever since waits for her captain to return.
“I get teased all the time, ‘Have you seen Abigail?’ Well, I’ve had a couple of things happen, and I’m a linear guy, but I’ve hid my head under the pillow a few times.
“When Marge was leaving, I asked her, ‘What do I need to know?’ First, she explained how when the wind blows in one way, the fireplaces make an “Oooo” sound, and when it comes from another, the windows scream as they are old and leaky.
“So, I said, ‘Got it. Anything else?’ She said, ‘Yes. Never go in the basement or the attic after dark.’ I said, ‘What does that mean?’ She said, ‘Abigail. I would never go in the basement or attic after dark because of Abigail.’
“So, my first night, before the quarter’s construction began, I was sleeping there on the air mattress, and there was a thunderstorm. I get a call around 10:30 p.m. from our historian, who says, ‘We forgot to shut the windows in the attic. We need you to go up and shut them.’”
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Interviewed by Ian J. Stark
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