Full-time professional living historian, Kenneth Serfass, returns to the Bradford Area Public Library at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 24 with a new persona, Abraham Wolf, the first keeper of Sea Girt Lighthouse.
Major Abraham Wolf, a retired Army major, was Sea Girt’s first keeper, firing up the light on Dec. 10, 1896. He was paid $1.10 per day. During the Civil War, Wolf served in the Union Army. While a Northerner, he could affect a convincing southern accent and therefore he was used as an effective spy.
He served seven years at Sea Girt Lighthouse and by the end of his tenure was in his early 70s, making him the oldest keeper on active duty.
With a military bearing and a striking impression in his sharp uniform, coupled with a no-nonsense approach toward his duties, he served as one of the finest in the Lighthouse Service.
Hear Keeper Wolfe describe his duties and experiences and how he came through the Civil War and into the Lighthouse Service. Wolfe will lead an interesting discussion of a little-known part of the U.S. coastal navigation system before computers and satellites.
Sea Girt Lighthouse is the last live-in lighthouse built on the Atlantic Coast.
Gunnery Sgt. Kenneth J. Serfass, A U.S. Marine since 1984, his final tour was with the First Marine Division Band during Operation Iraqi Freedom, retiring from the Marine Corps in July of 2004 to become a music teacher.
Serfass was a civil war re-enactor but now is a full-time professional living historian portraying Ulysses S. Grant, presenting between 11 and as many as 23 appearances each month between Feb. and Nov. each year as his work season. He jokes that in his free time where he works part-time as a brakeman on the Strasburg Rail Road, all his work is centered on time travel in an effort to get to his next destination. With ten months a year focused mainly on his work as Grant, Serfass is established on both coasts.
In 2016, he was asked by the Friends of the Sea Girt Lighthouse to fashion a program for their annual member’s meeting and began his study of the first keeper there, as well as the US Lighthouse Service.
Adding a new persona to his repertoire meant more study and research, as well as a new uniform and he has now jumped in head first to be able to bring this interesting man to life and teach others about the greater service of lighthouse keepers in American history. His presentation will be both entertaining and educational.
Serfass finds it an honor to share the life of a little known, but important person in the history of safely keeping ships at sea from running aground, and along with his railroad work and talks, helps people remember what life was like as our country became the great power we know and love.
The program about the life of Major Abraham Wolf is free and open to the public. For more information, visit https://www.bradfordlibrary.org/.
