A lighthouse keeper is the person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning lenses and windows. Electrification and other automated improvements such as remote monitoring and automatic bulb changing made paid keepers resident at the lights unnecessary. In the US, periodic maintenance of the lights is now performed by visiting Coast Guard Aids to Navigation teams.
Read more about Lighthouse Keeper: Current Status, Recognition
Famous quotes containing the words lighthouse and/or keeper:
“This lighthouse was the cynosure of all eyes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There was a weasel lived in the sun
With all his family,
Till a keeper shot him with his gun”
—Edward Thomas (1878–1917)