April 27, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
Book captures perils, legends of iconic lighthouse
New book offers
insights of the
challenges in
building the
Tillamook Rock
Lighthouse
By Rebecca Herren
Seaside Signal
Known for her fortitude to
withstand nature’s elements,
the Tillamook Rock Light-
house is not much more than
a ghostly shell of her true
glory. She is battered, beaten
and abandoned, but still, she
stands nearly 134 feet above
sea level on a solitary rock off
the shore of Tillamook Head.
There are six known books
written about the lighthouse —
most of them out of print. The
newest book “Tillamook Rock
Lighthouse: History & Tales of
Terrible Tilly” by Brian Ratty,
a local author who enjoys writ-
ing historical novels, was re-
leased in early April.
TESS RATTY
Local author Brian Ratty
holds his recently released
book “Tillamook Rock Ligh-
house: History and Tales of
Terrible Tilly.” Ratty will do a
reading and signing at Beach
Books on April 28, and he’ll
give a presentation at May’s
History & Hops speaker se-
ries at Seaside Brewing Co.
The book is mostly written
in a narrative form and in-
cludes correspondence letters
and logbook excerpts kept by
former lighthouse keepers.
There are passages from the
book “Tillamook Light” by
James Gibbs, a young Coast
Guardsman who spent tours
of duty on the rock in 1945
and to whom Ratty dedicates
this book, as well as accounts
from local newspapers. He
writes about the different
ownerships and how they
came to buy the lighthouse af-
ter its decommission on Sept.
1, 1957.
Ratty includes historical
photos of area lighthouses,
ships, shipwrecks, and engi-
neering sketches. There are
no known photos of what Til-
lamook Rock looked like be-
fore it was leveled, or “decap-
itated” as Ratty writes in his
book, revealing “it looked like
the hump of a camel’s back.”
However, during his re-
search, Ratty found what is
believed to be the only illus-
tration of what it (the rock)
looked like before decapita-
tion, which was included in
a report by H.S. Wheeler, the
superintendent of construc-
tion.
He gives a historical ac-
count of why American light-
houses were built, which was
to ease the way for trading
ships. As for Tillamook Rock
Lighthouse, it was the last of
three lighthouses constructed
to help seamen safely navi-
gate the Columbia River Bar.
Cape Disappointment and
Point Adams framed the en-
trance to the river but were
not sufficient enough to keep
the ships from danger — a
third was needed.
Tillamook Head was con-
sidered the optimal location;
however, it was constantly
enshrined in fog. A large rock
west of the headland and a
mile out into the ocean was
the best option, but getting the
lighthouse built and maintain-
ing it proved to be anything
but easy. Pounded by winter
storms and no sensible access
to shelter, the Rock earned the
nickname “Terrible Tilly” ear-
ly on.
While her future is un-
known, her legacy earned her
the moniker of Terrible Tilly
and the mysteries of ghostly
sightings and underground
spirit caves remain as folk-
lore. “With the single stroke
of a pen, Tillamook Rock
went from the hands of Moth-
er Nature into the grasp of the
Lighthouse Board. It would
never be the same again,”
Ratty wrote.
Ratty said he always felt
a special connection to the
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.
“While Karen Emmerling,
owner of Beach Books, gave
me the inspiration to write the
book, it was my family histo-
ry with the old lighthouse that
drove me to the story.”
His grandfather Harry Rat-
ty almost died on the rock in
1934. He became ill due to
exposure after a violent storm
and was finally evacuated af-
ter several attempts at rescue.
When his family lived in
Seaside during World War II,
Ratty said, “we bathed in the
light’s beacon and heard her
horns almost every night, so
the Tillamook Rock Light-
house was as normal to us as
the sea and the surf.”
Ratty noted that since the
last book written on the his-
tory of the lighthouse was 30
years ago and is now out of
print, he wanted to give “Til-
ly” her voice again.
During his research, Ratty
said he learned a much deep-
er respect for the men of the
Lighthouse Service. Not only
the keepers, but all the men
who built, manned, supplied
and maintained light sta-
tions up and down the coast.
“These were a hardy bunch of
dedicated men that kept the
sea lanes open and the seafar-
ers safe,” he said. “Hat’s off to
all of them! I also developed
a deep respect for ‘Tilly’ and
feel she’s not ‘Terrible’ after
all.
“It’s the centuries of storms
she endured that to this day,
make her stand proud, strong
and tall,” Ratty added.
Although Tillamook Rock
Lighthouse is still privately
owned, it has become part
of Oregon Islands National
Wildlife Refuge and, in 1981,
it was listed on the National
Register of Historic Places.
Essays that whet
the appetite
Author Tabitha
Blankenbiller
discusses her
new book ‘Eats
of Eden’
By Rebecca Herren
Seaside Signal
COLIN MURPHEY/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Jump rope contestants take to the air during their performance at Seaside High School.
Meet the Skippers
Skippers from Page 1A
enjoys basketball and soccer.
“But this is the only sport I do
now.”
“I like learning new double
unders,” Ella put in, describ-
ing a jump rope technique.
Ella is even looking at
learning a triple under, her
mom, Amber Clyde added, an
advanced move of one jump
within three turns of the rope.
The Skippers will travel to
perform at Six Flags Discov-
ery Kingdom Theme Park in
June and plan to compete in
the World Jump Rope com-
petition in 2019. They have
hosted jump rope camps and
workshops and performed at
fundraising events, including
the Providence Seaside Hos-
pital Foundation “Outpace
Diabetes.”
Next up for the Skippers:
the Tournament of Champi-
ons in Kirkland, Washington,
on May 11.
“They’re doing pretty
good!” Dundas said between
events. “I think they’re doing
all right!”
R.J. MARX
Ella Clyde and Alona Whisenhunt of the Tsunami Skippers.
COLIN MURPHEY/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Jump ropers from across the region gathered in Seaside to participate in the competition.
Author Tabitha Blanken-
biller talked about how her
debut memoir “Eats of Eden:
a foodoir” came to be at the
April 20 Lunch in the Loft
author series hosted by Beach
Books.
“Eats for Eden” follows
Blankenbiller’s attempt to
write a novel. It is a collec-
tion of personal essays, each
ending with a recipe. Some
recipes have a correlation to
the essay, where others do
not. And, each recipe used is
from her collection of hand-
me-downs and favorite things
she likes to make.
Blankenbiller said being
in Seaside again felt like she
had come full circle by end-
ing her book tour in the town
where she spent her residen-
cy as part of the MFA writing
program at Pacific University.
“Those 10 days when you’re
here immersed in that writing
world with your friends and
your mentors, feel like a hun-
dred days in that magical way
— when those days feel like
more when it’s not ordinary.”
After finishing her degree
program in 2012, she planned
to use her edited thesis as her
first novel. “We think our the-
sis will be our first book. Our
first manuscript is going to be
our first new novel, but that’s
not how it works,” she said
referencing the advice giv-
en by her mentors. “It’s not
going to catapult us to New
York.”
Part of the writing pro-
cess is dealing with rejec-
tion, Blankenbiller said. She
hired an agent who began the
process of selling Blanken-
biller’s first project to pub-
lishers, recalling some of the
feedback being less than en-
couraging, “this doesn’t feel
ready,” or “she’s not famous
so we don’t want to take a
chance.”
This continued for about
a year before Blankenbiller
severed ties with her agent
and moved on from her orig-
inal project she started in
graduate school. “No one,
it turned out, wanted to read
about a middle-class white
girl’s pursuit of perfection in
all things,” she read from the
book. “I didn’t even want to
read it by the end of its pro-
longed, stumbling death.”
Moving on, she wanted to
write a novel about personal
experience she was obsessed
about, but couldn’t quite
work through with non-fic-
tion, she said. “It’s funny how
we try to go these directions,
but always end up coming
back to what we actually en-
joy doing and what other peo-
ple are drawn to us doing.”
For Blankenbiller, that meant
REBECCA HERREN/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Tabitha Blankenbiller at
Beach Books on April 20.
essay writing.
To get started, she wrote
novel distractions — essays
about food and writing. But
time was a factor. “I work full
time and I need to write and
I need to eat,” she said, “and
those things I both enjoy.” By
now, her essays were getting
published and began drawing
much interest.
One day she received an
email from a representative
at Alternating Current Press
showing interest in her essays
and asked Blankenbiller if
she would be willing to turn
them into a book. It took her
about a year to write the first
draft, then another year for
edits.
Though “Eats of Eden”
is a compilation of essays,
Blankenbiller wrote each one
to go with another, saying
there is more of a narrative.
“I call it a ‘memoir in essay’
because I did want the piec-
es to stand on their own, but
at the same time it’s not just
a collection I’ve published
online or a collection around
a theme. I wanted to have a
narrative with it.”
The recipes, too, are
written in narrative form as
Karen Emmerling, owner of
Beach Books pointed out. “I
read her book and it makes
me laugh and feel tender. It’s
very entertaining.”
Blankenbiller
admit-
ted she didn’t know how to
cook when she left home for
college and learned mostly
from watching the Food Net-
work and chefs Nigella Law-
son and Ina Garten. “They
showed me how to cook and
they did it in a narrative style,
telling stories while cooking
for family and friends,” she
said. “Food TV had a lot of
influence on me.”
Blankenbiller’s
debut
novel accomplishes the te-
nets of contemporary writing,
showing significance to detail
through honesty, emotion,
wit, and humor. As her biog-
raphy points out, “her writing
springs to life where personal
and pop cultures intersect.”
Her talent for formulating
stories is like that of many
great writers of the past. She
uses descriptive prose to pro-
vide the reader a mind’s eye
to better understand each ex-
perience she pens as if it were
in real time. Her artful imag-
ery plus her sensory journey
makes “Eats for Eden” a feast
to crave.