

Each keeper in turn spent the first four hours operating the fog signal and the next four hours tending the light.ĭuring periods of prolonged fog each keeper worked a 16-hour day – and night! However, the watches were changed every Sunday to make sure one keeper wasn’t on the same watch indefinitely.ĭuring daylight watch the keeper on duty looked out for fog, this was because during fog patches the watches were doubled, with one keeper operating the fog signal while the other tended the light. This meant the same keeper kept the 2am to 6am watch and the 2pm to 6pm watch. People who are once employed as a keeper know a lot about a lighthouse keeper job description for future employment opportunities.At offshore lighthouses and headland lighthouses, the three keepers on duty kept four-hour watches in turn. Once approved for one lighthouse keeper job couples are easily hired for other lighthouse keeper jobs in the future. People have actually had to pay as much as $100 to become lighthouse keepers. Salary for a lighthouse keeper job is minimal if any money at all is offered for this employment opportunity. Excellent,personal character references are vital.Īccommodations could include sleeping quarters for the keeper couple or hook up for an RV which is supplied by the lighthouse keepers themselves. Education experience is part of employment processing of lighthouse keepers, but no college is required to have a career for lighthouse keeper jobs. Opening and securing the entrance gates to the lighthouse grounds is part of the lighthouse keepers job description. Knowing the history of the lighthouse is listed on most lighthouse keeper jobs since the keepers tell visiting tourists what is lighthouse lore and facts as well. The length of the job will span a week or more depending on what is stated on the job description for that lighthouse. A couple must like adventure to apply as lighthouse keepers since nature is constantly changing like the tides of the ocean. Carpentry, bookkeeping along with knowledge of general maintenance ground equipment is required. The state and local government agencies are backup for lighthouse keepers who must follow strict requirements while on the job. Quite often the Coast Guard owns and does the hiring for lighthouse keepers performing a deep background check before those jobs are filled. When the lighthouse has a guest house, a lighthouse keeper prepares those quarters as part of the job.

Those duties include maintenance of the grounds, stocking the gift shop, bookkeeping and greeting the sightseeing public. The solitary life of a lighthouse keeper demands the job to include two people who are well suited for the work the lighthouse requires. Tillamook Rock Lighthouse no longer hires keepers however, the history of that lighthouse and the lighthouse keepers' adventures are part of that lighthouse lore which are told to Oregon lighthouse visitors. On the rocky Oregon coast, a lighthouse can be perched on rocks in the Pacific Ocean. This location requires a boat for transportation of a lighthouse keeper to the mainland for supplies as keepers perform their job and live. In California and Washington states as well as others, some lighthouses are on an island. Lighthouses might be situated on an island, a rock formation in the ocean or at the point of some land jetting out into a body of water depending on where they are located.

These job facts have been acquired from a lighthouse keeper in Oregon. People have often been enthralled with lighthouses because of the magic they seem to have from a distance on foggy days and the allure of the inside light mechanisms as well. A Lighthouse keeper job description varies from lighthouse to lighthouse, however liking the outdoors along with other points remain similar to know before applying at any light station for employment opportunities.
