At 100 years old, Mr. Wayland Baum of Wanchese, North Carolina maybe the oldest living United States Lighthouse Service (USLHS) employee in United States as well as the oldest descendant of keepers of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
Mr. Baum filled in at screwpile lighthouses and at North Carolina's Bodie Island Lighthouse as a young man. He began working for the USLHS on the side-paddle steamer tender Holly and his first keeper's appointment was at Turkey Point Lighthouse in Maryland.
His father Thomas Hardy Baum was assistant keeper of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras Lighthouse from 1877 until 1938.
This story appeared in the
November 2004 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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