Keep the Light Lit

Keep the Light Lit. . Built in 1873 the two-story building in front of you was Cape Lookout Light Station’s Assistant Keepers’ Quarters. It housed the station’s assistant lightkeepers and their families for more than 75 years. Essentially a duplex, the quarters could accommodate two keepers at a time., Imagine living here as a lightkeeper or a member of his family a century or more ago. Think of the isolation. Think of the need to be self-sufficient. Think, too, of the enormity of the lightkeeper’s responsibilities. Though really there was just one job: keep the light lit. The keeper’s entire family helped. Failure could cost lives and cost the keeper his job., December 1923 , 23rd, Sunday with strong wind and rain from S.W. and Xmas almost here. This is a lonely place to spend Xmas. I miss Annie very much. , Journal of Assistant Light Keeper James Wilson Gillikin, (captions) , Light Keeper Isaac Van Willis services an electric lighthouse lamp., When the lighthouse was automated in 1950, lightkeepers, and quarters to house them, were no longer needed. Between 1950 and the time that Cape Lookout became part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore, the Assistant Keeper’s Quarters fell into disrepair, as seen in this photo (left) taken around 1976., Light keeper A.J. Newton (on left) and Coast Guard officer Whitey Whitehurst receive a visit from the children of another Coast Guardsman. Isolation made family life challenging.