More than guiding ships, lighthouse keepers protect historic treasures

Nick Lewia spends May through November tending Goat Island Lighthouse off Cape Porpoise, Maine, a job that now runs on automated electric light but still demands constant mowing, painting and maintenance of the tower, keeper's house and dock. This Saturday, roughly 20 Maine lighthouses open to the public for the 18th annual Maine Lighthouse Day, expecting more than 10,000 visitors, sponsored by the American Lighthouse Foundation, the Coast Guard and the Maine Office of Tourism.

Maine has between 64 and 67 lighthouses, fewer than Michigan's roughly 120 or New York's 80, but organizers and historians describe them as unusually central to the state's identity. Ownership is scattered among the Coast Guard, nonprofits, municipalities, the state, Acadia National Park and 14 private owners.

The keeper profession peaked around 1,000-plus workers in the late 1800s before automation and GPS made the job nearly obsolete; the Coast Guard's last official keeper, Sally Snowman, retired from Boston Light in 2023 after 20 years.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.