Our first day as lighthouse keepers

Kathleen stoically raises the flag, just like the first lighthouse keeper.

The flag had to be raised by 8:00 a.m. every morning.  Kathleen and I volunteered to do that job, and as the week went by, others took a turn too.  Several pictures of the first lighthouse keepers hang in the dining room, so we modeled this picture (same angle, same stance) of Kathleen after one of those just for fun.

From the top of the lighthouse you can see this view of the Keepers' Quarters. At the top of the photo is the end of the spit.

Then we came in and cooked breakfast.  By 9:00 a.m. it was time to open the lighthouse/museum, put out the tour signs and begin watching for approaching visitors.  I got my first tour of the lighthouse at 9:00, and it was pretty cool to see the view from the top.  This is a working lighthouse, and the beacon shines day and night.

And here's looking back the other direction, and you can see how narrow the spit is is places; it is a 5 mile walk along the beach to get here.

We were thinking that perhaps we wouldn't have any visitors that day...but as it turned out, we had 16!  Two came by kayak, two by paddleboard, and the rest hiked out.  We all took turns going up with guests and sharing some of the facts about the lighthouse.

74 steps take you to the top.

Only 4 guests at a time can fit into the top portion of the lighthouse.

At 5:00 p.m. every day, we closed the lighthouse, put away the signs, swept the stairs, vacuumed,  polished the brass, and cleaned the public bathroom.


Other duties during the week included watering the grass, running several zones each day, mowing the grass, and we also chose to wash all the windows on the Keeper's Quarters while we were there.