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Never have I pondered this question until I visited Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse historical museum near Gros Morne National Park. Lighthouse keeping is a family business. You are a keeper until you die, then your eldest son becomes keeper. A keeper never leaves the lighthouse; if there is business to be conducted with the keeper – tradespeople, governmental officials or extended family and friends – they come to you. Keeping is a 24 hour job, never are you off duty. A keeper’s family is usually large; the keeper needs all the help he can get, keeping the light burning, keeping lookout, keeping logs, etc. When the last keeper died in 1970, the lighthouse was turned over to the Canadian government and is preserved as a historic museum. Much of the original furnishings remain, including this beautiful electric range, installed in 1968.
As he was dying in the living room, the last keeper wrote the following: “So much happened here. This is where I watched the sea, logged my notes. Five of my children were born by this fire. I took my last breath in this room.”