World's Shortest Keeper?

This is one of my all-time favorite photos of a lighthouse keeper. The man on the left is Charles H. Hinckley, keeper of the Bishop and Clerks Lighthouse off Hyannis on Cape Cod 1892-1919. Hinckley, who was 4 feet 9 inches (or 4 feet 6 inches in his stocking feet, according to one account), has been called the shortest lighthouse keeper in the world.

With Hinckley in this photo is local ferry captain Walter Carney (6'7") of Hyannisport. Hinckley referred to himself and Carney as the "long and short of the service."

In 1909, the magazine Along the Coast quoted Hinckley:

There ain't a great deal of me so far as height goes but I am all right from my feet up. I've laid many a man bigger than me on his back if I do say it myself.

You can read more about Hinckley and Bishop and Clerks Lighthouse on my website.