Who is the lighthouse keeper

They lived in the quarters that were connected to a lighthouse or a house nearby. Through the middle of the 19 th century, African Americans also commonly assisted the official keeper as a paid servant or as an enslaved person. But as the status of African Americans evolved over the course of the mid-late 19 th century, the complexion of lighthouse staffs as well as life-saving station staffs who operated under the United States Life-Saving Service also changed.

The Lighthouse Service began hiring newly freed individuals to work at Southern stations, and by the late s, some lighthouses were overseen by African American Keepers and several had all-African American staffs. The advent of automation gradually made the traditional lighthouse keeper unnecessary. A law was passed in requiring that the Boston Light remain manned, so a keeper remains there today. Explore This Park. Foulds describes the life as "blinking brilliant," noting that it translates to six months off every year.

Since many lighthouses are located in beautiful locations and offer spectacular views, life as a lighthouse keeper could be like a permanent vacation — when extreme weather, dwindling supplies, and loneliness don't ruin everything. The classic image of a lighthouse keeper is one of a solitary soul quietly going about their business in exquisite isolation.

Stories and films set in lighthouses always stress the solitude, presenting it as either maddening or soothing. But the truth is, these days you're not likely to be very lonely at all. Most lighthouses are designated as historical landmarks, and are at least part-time museums and tourist attractions. Trivia Happy explains that acting as a guide is part of many lighthouse keepers' duties.

According to former lighthouse keeper Mark Sheriff , this can lead to some stressful situations because tourists often don't realize that the lighthouse is also someone's home and private space. That can lead to folks walking in on the lighthouse keeper as they're waking up or doing other things. The Connexion notes that some lighthouse keepers enjoy having tourists. For one thing, it's company, which can be welcome when you're doing a lonely job. For another, many lighthouses are relatively difficult to travel to, so the lighthouse keeper knows that when tourists show up they're sincerely interested and respectful of the facility.

While the days when a lighthouse keeper would have to subsist for months on whatever food supplies were on hand are in the past, the job still requires the ability to manage and ration supplies, and to cook. There's a reason that lighthouse keepers are taught how to make bread : a distinct lack of grocery stores or pizza delivery to remote, isolated lighthouses. Food deliveries usually come every few weeks. According to Ebonee Gregory , who actually grew up living in a lighthouse where her father was the keeper, food was delivered every two weeks, and if they ran out of something, they simply had to wait for the next drop.

If there was bad weather, they'd have to wait even longer and scrounge meals together with whatever was left over. The Lighthouse Keepers notes another challenge: no instant gratification. Having the ingredients for meals or baked goods is one thing, but if you want something, you have to make it, often from scratch. Some lighthouse keepers grow their own vegetables and fish to supplement their food supplies.

One thing's for sure: there's no convenience store anywhere nearby. According to the National Park Service , it was once very common for full-time lighthouse keepers to have their families them. While it's not unheard of in modern times for lighthouse keepers to bring their families — or to start families after taking on the role — the Financial Post explains that lighthouse keepers with children are often excluded from all but the least-isolated postings, due to concerns about lack of access to emergency healthcare and other services.

That means if you love your career as a lighthouse keeper, starting a family might complicate it, or even end it. Even if you have no obstacles to starting a family or concerns about raising your kids far away from hospitals or grocery stores, there are other considerations. As Ebonee Gregory told the Guardian about her childhood experience living in a Tasmanian lighthouse where her father was keeper, she had no friends as a young child because there were literally no other children her age anywhere nearby.

Further, her older brother had to be home-schooled, which was one more job to add to maintaining and repairing the lighthouse and supplying the weather reports required. For many people, the idea of being isolated from fellow humans might be is appealing because they imagine a life of never-ending Netflix. But the online lifestyle requires one very important thing: a robust internet connection.

And that is a rarity among lighthouses, due to their remote locations and their often primitive infrastructure. The Financial Post explains that internet connections are often not provided at all, and that if you want to set one up, you either have to figure out how to do it yourself, or fly in a technician at your own expense.

Even if you have the skills and funds to cobble together an internet connection, according to former lighthouse keeper Caroline Woodward the end result is probably worse than dial-up. Cell phone signals are also often spotty at lighthouses due to their remoteness. All this means that often the only way to communicate is via radio that is essentially a party line — although you can't listen in on other keepers' conversations, you have to wait for the line to clear before you can make your own call.

So let's say you've thought through the isolation, the hard work, the primitive conditions, and the threat of extreme weather, and you still think being a lighthouse keeper sounds like an amazing life.

How much can you expect to get paid? Well, as former lighthouse keeper Caroline Woodward reports, lighthouse keepers in Canada are the lowest-paid federal civil servants in the government. However, with many lighthouses being converted into hotels, there's a possibility that being a lighthouse keeper could be a little more lucrative. A article in the Guardian reports that the East Brother Light Station in San Francisco Bay was made into a bed and breakfast, and that it advertised for a lighthouse keeper who would also act as a hotel manager.

By , stricter standards for hiring lightkeepers were in place and written instructions were provided. The new breed of lightkeeper proved to be hardworking and dedicated. Although they worked for little pay or benefits, the lightkeepers, often mariners themselves, understood the importance of the lighthouses and the job of the keeper. Lighthouses could have anywhere from one to five keepers, depending on the size of the station.

For example, as the Cape Hatteras light station grew, so did the number of staff. In , there was only one keeper, though sometimes he hired someone to help with jobs around the station. With the improvements of , an assistant keeper was officially hired.

When the current lighthouse was completed in , it was determined that a second assistant was needed. By the late s, a third assistant had been hired to maintain the Cape Point beacon a small light at the edge of Cape Point.

So for a time, there were four keepers and their families living on the light station grounds.