How to Become a Lighthouse Keeper

Can you still become a lighthouse keeper?

Yes, as a volunteer, an innkeeper or an owner, but not as a federal employee. The Coast Guard automated its lighthouses between the mid-1960s and 1990, with Boston Light the last in 1998. Boston Light’s keeper, Sally Snowman, the first woman to keep it, retired in 2023.

The word keeper now covers people who look after a light without a government job: volunteers who staff a station, innkeepers who live on site and owners who maintain the tower.

What replaced the paid keeper?

Automation replaced the paid keeper. The Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Program started in the mid-1960s, and by 1990 every lighthouse but Boston Light was automated. The Coast Guard still maintains the light and lamp at active stations, and it visits to service them.

Volunteers and nonprofits took over the human side: tours, gardens, museum rooms and the care of the buildings. That is where a person who wants to be a keeper fits.

How do you volunteer at a lighthouse?

Contact the station or the park that runs it. Old Point Loma Lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego takes volunteers who introduce visitors to its history, and applicants email the park’s volunteer coordinator. Heceta Head in Oregon takes volunteers with no experience, gives training and rewards significant time with an overnight stay.

The US Lighthouse Society lists accommodation types that involve keeping: bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, a keeper-for-a-fee stay and a volunteer host keeper. Terms, fees and commitments differ, so ask each site.

What is the difference between keeping a light and owning one?

A volunteer keeper gives time and leaves when the shift ends. An owner keeps the tower, pays for insurance and repairs, and leaves the light to the Coast Guard. If you want the experience of keeping a light without the deed, volunteer first.

An innkeeper at a lighthouse sits between the two. East Brother in California is a nonprofit inn with innkeepers who live on the island and host guests. If you are weighing ownership, read how to buy a lighthouse and then talk to people who keep one.