Lighthouse Keeper Job Resources

Photo credit: Debbie Dolphin ©2008..

Graves Lighthouse, Boston Harbor

Since the beginning of 2009, many people have been searching for Lighthouse Keeper Jobs. Unfortunately, Lighthouse Keeper Jobs are scarce and many jobs are part-time seasonal jobs or volunteer vacation experiences. This post is a resource for locating the Lighthouse Keeper Jobs in New England and the United States that are currently known to exist.

Please note that Lighthouse Keeper Jobs may be subject to change by the organizations who offer the Lighthouse Caretaker programs(1). For more information about their programs, please visit their Contact links or contact them directly.

The Lighthouse Links contain information about the Lighthouse and the Lighthouse Keeper or Caretaker jobs.

New England Lighthouses with Caretaker jobs:

01. Boston Harbor Lighthouse – Massachusetts
The official government Lighthouse Keeper job requires the most qualifications. Contact the U.S. Coast Guard Office, First District

02. Cape Ann Light Station on Thacher Island, Massachusetts
Summer job positions. Contact the Thacher Island Association

03. Scituate Lighthouse – Massachusetts
Full time position. Contact The Scituate Historical Society

News Update, March 22, 2009:

According to a recent Boston Globe report, Scituate Lighthouse has a new Lightkeeper. Bob Gallagher has accepted the position of maintaining the historic lighthouse property and keeping the Beacon lit at night.

Emily Sweeney of the Boston Globe has written three excellent articles about the old historic lighthouse. To watch a video and read her stories, please click the following links:

Old Scituate Light has a new lightkeeper, March 19, 2009
Lighthouse living: Benefits and drawbacks of lighthouse living
Old Scituate’s Light’s first 198 years

04. Seguin Island Lighthouse – Maine
Two volunteer Caretakers live and work on the island from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Caretaker Job Description

05. Rose Island Lighthouse – Rhode Island
Volunteer to be a Lighthouse Keeper during a working vacation. For more information, please visit the Volunteer Vacations web page.

United States Lighthouses with Caretaker jobs:

01. Wind Point Lighthouse – Wisconsin
Full-time Lighthouse Caretaker. Contact the Wind Point Village Board in Racine, Wisconsin

02. Port Isabel Lighthouse – Texas
Lighthouse Keeper/Museum Aid, Job Salary Information Post and Lighthouse Information Post
Contact The City of Port Isabel

03. New Dungeness Light Station – Washington
Volunteer Light-keepers pay a fee to work one week. Members can Contact the New Dungeness Light Station Association

04. Tawas Point Lighthouse – Michigan
Vacationing volunteers work as guest Light-keepers. Contact the Tawas Point Lighthouse Museum Store at (989) 362-5658 or the Tawas Point State Park at (989) 362-5041.

For more information on Lighthouse Keeper Programs, please visit the United States Lighthouse Society‘s Where Can I Be A Light Keeper? web page.

Footnotes:
(1) The latest news about the termination of the other two New England Lighthouse Caretaker jobs:

In late 2007, the Beavertail Lighthouse Caretaker license agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard was not renewed by the town of Jamestown. In 2008, the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association was seeking permission to “hire” security volunteers to watch over the historic Lighthouse and buildings.

In 2003, the Caretaker of the island living in the Keeper’s quarters of Great Captain Island Lighthouse left the island when the structure became unsafe. The town of Greenwich was hoping to restore the interior of the lighthouse in 2008 and the exterior in 2009.

Like this post?
Share this with others…

Tweet This Post

Scituate Lighthouse Keeper Job Opening

The Scituate Historical Society is looking for a new Lighthouse Keeper for their Scituate Lighthouse, currently a private aid located at Cedar Point to guide mariners into the entrance of picturesque Scituate Harbor.

The current Lighthouse Keeper is leaving her post this fall after 22-years of service. For an Application or more information, please visit the Little Red Schoolhouse at 43 Cudworth Road between 10 and 4 pm weekdays.
_____________________

Lighthouse Background:

Scituate Lighthouse is home to one of the most unusual Lighthouse Legends on the east coast. The “Lighthouse Army of Two” legend is a famous children’s story about two sisters who extinguished the Light in the Lighthouse and played Yankee Doodle on their fife and drum to a British landing party from a warship anchored nearby during the War of 1812. The British allegedly assumed the town’s militia was approaching upon hearing the military marching tune and retreated from entering the unprotected town.

The British Navy eventually blockaded the ports on the Atlantic coast in 1814. British forces plundered and burned 10 ships in Scituate Harbor on June 11, 1814. Rebecca and Abigail Bates, daughters of the first Light-keeper, Simeon Bates, were allegedly terrified to see a British warship anchored offshore on September 1, 1814.

Despite the numerous conflicting accounts of their story, many seem to believe the legend is true. Many Scituate residents doubted their story in 1814 and later, Rebecca Bates sold affidavits to claim her story was true.

For more information about their Lighthouse Legend and the history of the Lighthouse, please click on the photo of this post.

Map Location:
For a Map Location of the Lighthouse, please visit the Google Map of Scituate Lighthouse

Related News Source:
Historical society seeks lighthouse keeper

Technorati Tags: lighthouse, Scituate Lighthouse Keeper Job Opening, Scituate Lighthouse, Scituate, Massachusetts

Tawas Point Lighthouse Keeper Job Openings

The Tawas Point State Park is looking for vacationing volunteers willing to work as guest Light-keepers for free and pay $275 for rent per week. Guest Lighthouse keepers will live on the second floor of recently renovated Lighthouse keeper’s quarters. This lighthouse vacation retreat includes a modern kitchen, bath, and two bedrooms.

Upon arrival, Guest Lighthouse keepers will be trained to greet visitors, explain the history of the Lighthouse, and work in the gift shop and museum.

For more information about the new Tawas Point Lighthouse Keeper Program, please contact the Tawas Point Lighthouse Museum Store at (989) 362-5658 or the Tawas Point State Park at (989) 362-5041.

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the lighthouse is open for tours on weekends. Climbing the Tower provides a spectacular scenic view of Tawas Point. For more tour information, please call (989) 362-5658. Tawas Point Lighthouse is managed by Tawas Point State Park which also offers camping, picnicking, hiking and other seasonal activities.
_______________________

Lighthouse Background:

Tawas Point Lighthouse was built on Ottawa Point and was First Lit in 1853 for mariners seeking a harbor of refuge in Tawas Bay from the squalls of Lake Huron. A 45-foot high rubble stone Tower was illuminated by Lewis Lamps with silvered reflectors exhibiting a Fixed White Light 54-feet above lake level.

Due to poor construction and the reshaping of Ottawa Point, the Lighthouse was rebuilt in 1876. The present 68-foot high brick tower was First Lit in 1877 exhibiting a Fixed White Light illuminated by a Fifth-order Fresnel lens 70-feet above lake level.

The Lighthouse was refitted with the present Fourth-order Fresnel lens in 1891 and exhibited a new Light characteristic, a 25-second White Light and 5-second eclipse every 30-seconds, on Sep 1, 1891. In 1902, Ottawa Point was changed to the name, Tawas Point.

The Lighthouse was automated and the station closed in 1953. The ownership of the Lighthouse was transferred to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in 2001. The state has been restoring the Light Station to its early twentieth century appearance.

Currently, the Lighthouse exhibits a Occulting White Light every 4-seconds with a Red Sector (Red from 045° to 135° ) illuminated by a Fourth-order Fresnel lens 70-feet above lake level to visible range of 16 nautical miles.

Map Location:
For a Map Location of the Lighthouse, please visit the Google Map of the Tawas Point Lighthouse
For Directions and more Lighthouse history, please visit Terry Pepper’s Tawas Point Light web page.

Related News Source:
Tawas Point Lighthouse needs keepers

Technorati Tags: lighthouse, Tawas Point Lighthouse Keeper Job Openings, Tawas Point Lighthouse, East Tawas, Michigan

Beavertail Lighthouse Open to Vandalism Again?

In another strange twist of irony for historical Lighthouse preservation, Beavertail Lighthouse, the third colonial Lighthouse built in our nation located on a breathtaking natural scenic point park, has lost the Resident Caretakers due to the phantom poisoning of Lead Paint and a low cost housing dispute between several government organizations.

Robert W. Sutton Jr., a Town Council member, stated his common sense perspective on the Coast Guard’s issue with the danger of Lead Poisoning:
“Ninety percent of the houses in Jamestown have lead paint. Lead paint doesn’t just jump out and get you. You have to eat paint chips.”

If drinking colloidal silver turns men into Papa smurf blue than what toxic color is produced by eating lead paint chips?
Has Luminous bluish-gray Alpha Centaurians invaded Beavertail Lighthouse to eat the Lead Paint chips???

As local officials were concerned in the 1970s after the Coast Guard automated the Lighthouse, removed the Light-keeper and left the Light Station unattended, local Jamestown officials are concerned about vandalism in the buildings of the isolated Light Station. During the 1970s, vandalism threatened to destroy the Lighthouse. Someone shot the Light out in 1975 and the Lighthouse was inactive until the Coast Guard replaced the Light.

The affordable housing dispute was covered in a previous post, “Beavertail Lighthouse Residential Housing Controversy.”

According to Coast Guard rules, the town’s (Jamestown) proposal of resident caretakers is not acceptable. Yet, the town has had resident caretakers for more than 30 years. Georges Bockstael of the Coast Guard’s civil engineering unit, claims the Coast Guard requested the town to deliver a “innovative” plan to maintain the Lighthouse. The Coast Guard has no problem with a plan that allows for a part-time Caretaker who may stay there at night but he cannot use the Lighthouse as his primary residence.

Who would apply to sleep at a Lighthouse by night and live somewhere else by day?
Perhaps, Speedy the Under-the-Cover MoonShaker SpeedCat 0007 agent in his Space Suit might benefit from this arrangement?

Politics aside, the immediate common sense solution is to allow Resident Caretakers to live in the Lighthouse full time to maintain the property and provide security against vandalism until an agreeable lease agreement can be approved by all disputing parties.

_____________________

Lighthouse Background:

Beavertail Lighthouse was the third colonial Lighthouse built in America to guide shipping entering the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay en-route to Newport Harbor. The current 52-foot high square Granite Tower was built in 1856 and currently exhibits a Flashing White Light every 6-seconds illuminated by a Third-order Fresnel lens 64-feet above sea level to a visible range of 15 nautical miles. For more information about Beavertail Lighthouse, please click on the photo of this post.

Map Location:
For a Map location, please visit the Google Map of Beavertail Lighthouse

Related News Story:
Newport officials worried about fate of lighthouse, Feb 23, 2008

Technorati Tags: lighthouse, Beavertail Lighthouse, Beavertail Lighthouse Open to Vandalism Again?, Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association, Beavertail State Park Advisory Committee, Jamestown, Rhode Island

Message in a Bottle at Seguin Island Lighthouse

Somewhere in a far far away galaxy of infinite Meme Magnitude, Kimberly “Arthouis” Barker from Blogsylvania just east of Oz, has Meme’d me to paint a Message in a Bottle Beach message for Mimi’s Wet & Wild Meme Marathon.

You may find my spirit or my LOST bottle floating around Seguin Island Lighthouse where sea rumors speak of a Mimi-like ghost who plays the piano as mermaids entice lost mariners offshore (1)!

For a Map Location of the Lighthouse and my LOST bottle, please visit the Google Map of Seguin Island Lighthouse

Someday, you may see my LOST bottle floating in the ocean of Mimi’s Wet & Wild Bottle Blogosphere! Anyone can participate in the Message in a Bottle Meme including everyone in my Blogroll. Instructions and the blank bottle image are posted at the Message in a Bottle links listed above.
____________________

footnotes:

(1) According to Lighthouse Legend, the ghost of a Light-keeper’s wife plays the same ghostly tune on her phantom piano which can be heard on the Kennebec River during foggy nights. In 1850, a Lighthouse Keeper bought his lonely bored depressed wife a piano to brighten her mood on the isolated island. Unfortunately, his newlywed wife played the same song over and over again for hours until her husband was driven insane. After destroying the piano, the Light-keeper murdered his wife with an axe and committed suicide. Perhaps, her husband was hearing “The Honeymoon was the Killer” tune?

According to folklore, Seguin Island Light Station is also haunted by the first Light-keeper who died penniless on the island. The ghost of Light-keeper John Polereczky, called the “Old Captain,” is seen climbing the staircase of the tower to tend the light.

After the Lighthouse was automated, William O. Thomson reported that the “Old Captain” ghost told the moving crew, “Don’t take the furniture. Please leave my home alone!” The boat loaded with the Keeper’s furniture mysteriously or coincidentally sank on the following day!

In the nearby haunted legends of Maine, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about a phantom ship that passes by Seguin Island Lighthouse. To read his poem, please visit “The Dead Ship of Harpswell,” 1866.

Lighthouse Background:

In 1795, President George Washington authorized the first offshore Lighthouse to mark Seguin Island and help navigation approaching the Kennebec River or the Sheepscot River.

On March 29, 1796, Major John Polereczky was appointed Light-keeper of the new 30-feet high wood Lighthouse. The Light exhibited a Fixed White Light illuminated by 6 oil lamps and reflectors 165-feet above sea level.

The current 53-foot high stone Lighthouse was built in 1857 and fitted with a First-order Fresnel Lens for the safety of shipping. Seguin Island Lighthouse is currently an Active U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation exhibiting a Fixed White Light illuminated by a First-order Fresnel Lens 180-feet above sea level to a visible range of 18 nautical miles.

On November 15, 1985, the Coast Guard de-manned and decommissioned the Light. A Coast Guard crew was ready to remove the 9-foot high Fresnel lens until Pat Moffatt, a Lobsterman, told the crew they needed an act of Congress. Thankfully, the Fresnel gem valued at $8 million, is still the eye of this ghostly Lighthouse Treasure!

The Friends of Seguin Island, Inc. was established in 1986 and the Preservation group received a 10 year lease from the Coast Guard on April 11, 1989. The Coast Guard transferred Seguin Island Light Station to the group under he Maine Lights Program in February 1998.

Since 1990, summer Caretakers have maintained the buildings and property, and greet visitors from Memorial Day through Labor Day. In 1993, Susie Wren established a museum which opened on August 31, 1993.

Seguin Island Lighthouse is best seen by boat or visiting the island. A distant view of the Lighthouse from Popham Beach requires binoculars. For Lighthouse Lovers into Lighthouse Lore and Piano Playing Ghost Hunters, Lighthouses cruises are provided by the Maine Maritime Museum and Long Reach Cruises.

Map Location:
For a Map location, please visit the Google Map of Seguin Island Lighthouse

Technorati Tags: lighthouse, Message in a Bottle at Seguin Island Lighthouse, Seguin Island Lighthousel, Popham Beach, Seguin Island, Maine