The Browns Point Light Keeper's Cottage

The Browns Point Light Keeper's Cottage. . Much of the Browns Point Light Keeper's cottage story is the story of Oscar Brown, its first and longest occupant. Oscar and Annie Brown arrived at Browns Point on a United States Government boat October 26, 1903 with their personal belongings, furniture, an upright piano, and a cow lowered to the beach by a sling. For 36 years Oscar and Annie Brown tended the light and developed and nurtured a landscape that originally consisted of a tideland and a lagoon., Oscar's primary job from 1903 until 1922 was lighting the lantern at sundown and extinguishing it at sunrise. During foggy periods his job demanded winding the clock mechanism that kept the bell ringing. It was demanding and exhausting work. In 1922 his workload was lessened when electricity came to Browns Point. A switch in the cottage turned on the lighthouse beacon and an electric mechanism rang the bell., Other duties throughout his tenure required painting the lighthouse, cottage, boathouse, oil house, barn, hen house and pump house including the roofs every three or four years. He was an avid gardener and farmer growing various kinds of vegetables. His flower gardens consisted mainly of daffodils, tulips, Russian violets, peonies, irises, roses, seeded annuals and various kinds of shrubbery. He planted and cared for an orchard of apples, pears and cherries plus multiple kinds of berry vines. He maintained pastures of sweet clover and oats for his horse, goats and Jersey cows. He raised chickens for eggs and meat. In his spare time, Oscar Brown, an accomplished musician on several instruments joined other musicians in ensembles and taught cornet and piano to local children., In 1939 when the Coast Guard assumed all lighthouse responsibilities from the United States Lighthouse Service, Oscar retired. Keepers who followed in his footsteps were Arthur (Shorty) Woods during most of the 1940s and Cyril Beaulieu during the 1950s. Lighthouse keeping at Browns Point was terminated when the light was automated in 1963., The Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma accepted the responsibility of maintaining the cottage and grounds in a long-term lease with the United States Coast Guard. For many years the Parks Department leased the cottage as a private family residence. In October 2000 the Points Northeast Historical Society became a partner with the Metropolitan Park District in an agreement to assist in maintenance and restoration and to provide public access to the cottage and outer buildings. The cottage along with the lighthouse, boathouse, oil house and pump house are on the National Registry of Historic Places., [Captions] , . (Left) Oscar Brown, first light keeper, in full dress uniform. Photo courtesy of Washington State Historical Society , . (Right) Annie Brown on board walk in front of cottage during the first decade of the 1900s.