June 1, 2013

Cape Blanco State Park

Port Orford, OR

It was very chilly last night outside but we had the fireplace on all night so we were quite cozy.

After a leisurely morning and a big bacon and eggs breakfast we drove a mile over to the Hughes House for our orientation. 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived 45 minutes early because we wanted to tour the house.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our orientation just happened to take place on State Parks Day so there were many volunteers inside the house providing an interpretive history of what life at the Hughes House was like back in the late 1800s.

 

 

  

In the early 1860s, Patrick and Jane Hughes settled in the Sixes River valley where they established a ranch.  The Hughes dairy produced butter that was shipped to a San Francisco distributor.  

 

 

 

 During the course of thirty years, they raised a family and had saved enough money to build a large, modern house.  Unfortunately, Patrick only was able to enjoy his new house for three years.  He died from injuries sustained from a riding accident.

 

 

 

 

 

Of the nine Hughes children, two boys died during childhood.   Three boys, Edward, Thomas and Francis lived their entire lives in the house helping their mother run the ranch.  John became an ordained Roman Catholic priest. Another son, James, was a lifelong keeper at Cape Blanco Lighthouse.   Alice and Mary, the two daughters, married local men and left the ranch.

One of the volunteers demonstrated working on a spinning wheel.

One of the things that really stood out in the house was the height of the ceilings.  It appeared to me that they were between 10 to 12 feet tall.  One of the volunteers informed me the reason for the high ceilings was to allow for tall windows providing plenty of daylight.  (Because heat rises to the top it must have been coooooold). 

This staircase brought back memories to Monte of his childhood.

His grandparents had a similar house and he used to slide down the

carpeted stairs on his butt.

 

At 12:30 we walked the short distance to another house on the property where we met Greg, the Park Ranger who had offered us the volunteer lighthouse tour guide position. 

 

 

 

There are four volunteer tour guide couples. The other three couples are Carol and Leeroy, Norm and Cheryl and Jim and B.  They are returning guides so the orientation was just a formality for them.  We had already met Jim when we first arrived.  He had brought over some fresh baked rolls that went perfectly with the soup we had for dinner.  I had assumed that his wife made the rolls but was corrected when I met her.  (I should have heeded what one of my college professor told me what happens when we assume anything. It makes an Ass out of U and ME. 

            The orientation included an overview of the program.  We were given handouts listing rules and regulations, code of conduct and schedules along with our duties and responsibilities.

 

            At the end of the meeting we received our uniforms (windbreaker and hat). 

We drove the short distance to the lighthouse road where Greg demonstrated opening and closing of the gates. 

Views along the road leading to the lighthouse.

 

 

Once the group was assembled again, Greg took us through the four different jobs we would do on a rotating basis.

 

  Three couples work each day from Wednesday through Sunday.  There are two couples on duty during a shift. 

 

The AM shift works in the Greeting Center, one as a greeter who provides information about taking a tour, where to pay, etc. 

 

Once tickets are purchased, the partner takes over as the storyteller giving information including the length of the tour and facts about the lighthouse.

The ALL Day shift begins in the Workroom and Lantern Room in the lighthouse. 

 

The workroom host describes the duties of the keepers. 

The tour continues up the stairs where the lantern room host finishes up the tour.

 

 

The PM Shift arrives at 12:30 to relieve the All Day shift for lunch.  After lunch, the All Day shift relieves the AM shift at the Greeting Center.

It sounds like a pretty good system.  There was so much information to absorb in the few hours we had for orientation.  I am grateful that Greg didn’t schedule us to begin until Wednesday.  That will give us time to read over the materials including the Emergency Manual and the Interpretive Host Book.  Hopefully it will look like we know what we are doing when we host our first tour.  Should be interesting.