My Week as a Lighthouse Docent

The romanticism of a lone lighthouse — its shape slightly shrouded by a mist — is an alluring image to many of us. Have you ever found yourself curious about the solitary life led by a lighthouse keeper? At the Turn Point Lighthouse, located on a remote island at the northwestern tip of the San Juan Islands archipelago in Washington state, you can satisfy this sense of whimsy by becoming a lighthouse docent or guide for a week. This is exactly what we did.

But no ferry line serves this pristine isle called Stuart Island so to reach this northwest paradise you are going to need a boat.

Sailing our 36-foot sloop to Stuart Island, we anchored in Prevost Harbor and prepared for our week as volunteer docents. This tiny, isolated island has two harbors that boaters and kayakers like to use, the other being Reid Harbor. Both have access to  Stuart Island Marine Park, which has acres of camping, trails and miles of sandy shoreline. But the main attraction of the island is the Turn Point Lighthouse.

Opposite the light station, at the top of the hill sits the lighthouse keeper's quarters. It was here, lounging on the porch in between visitors, we witnessed many big shipping tankers coming up the Haro Strait, on their way to Canada. In order to do so they must make a hard right at Turn Point (hence its name) before sailing along the waters called Boundary Pass, separating the United States and Canadian shipping lanes.

It was this particular treacherous, 90-degree maneuver that heralded the call for a light station to be placed on Stuart Island and become a solitary beacon for maritime navigation. On March 3, 1891, the United States Congress appropriated the sum for construction to build the station's duplex, fog signal building, water tanks, boathouse and stake light. Under the direction of architect Carl W. Leick, work got underway and by Nov. 30, 1893, the station became operational.

The original light source was a kerosene lamp displayed from a post along with a Daboll trumpet serving as the fog signal. In 1925, both the light and the keeper's quarters upgraded to electricity via generators stored in the fog-signal building. Today the fog-signal building functions as a museum housing the Daboll trumpet, workings of the generators, and photographs depicting those bygone days, whispering to us their story.

In 1974 the station became automated. This meant the lighthouse keepers, once a vital presence on the island, were no longer needed.

After anchoring in Prevost Harbor, we motored our dingey over to shore where Jim and Linda Bergquist met us with a warm island welcome. Linda grew up on Stuart Island with her family lineage reaching back to the second assistant keeper to the light station.

In order to preserve the history here, the Bergquists became instrumental in forming the Turn Point Lighthouse Preservation Society (TPLPS), a non-profit 501-C. Its mission is overseeing the care and preservation of this historic, stately beacon overlooking the Haro Strait. Part of their work is in welcoming volunteer docents who each stay a week on the island during the summer months. While we retired to our boat each evening, TPLPS supplies a small, stocked trailer for docents in need of lodging.

TPLPS works closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, which owns the land, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which supervises the maintanence of the historical buildings. There are other historical structures the Bergquists keep an eye on in addition to the lighthouse — such as the keeper's quarters where we began our tour and docent training with Jim.

As of this writing, it is with great sadness that we learned of Jim's passing and we are forever grateful for the time we spent together at the light station. TPLPS continues on as his legacy.

Becoming a docent merely requires a passion for the site and a willingness to share its history with visitors. Jim handed me a script outlining the history of the main keepers and significant events to highlight as I toured visitors through the keeper's quarters. Needless to say, I studied the script that evening, committing most of it to memory.

Meanwhile, my partner manned the fog-signal station museum as he was far more adept with sailing history, mechanics and paraphernalia. As docents, our responsibilities were multifaceted and included everything from raising or lowering the flag each day to greeting visitors, and answering their questions.

Turn Point Lighthouse, accompanied by all the other buildings of this bygone era, is a popular attraction for visitors. It's second only to the wild beauty of this island and the pods of resident orcas searching for salmon. In fact, according to the Bergquists, over 3,000 tourists sign the guestbook each year but they think the actual number of visitors is closer to 4,000.

Credit: Richard Schmitz

During our week we welcomed roughly 300 visitors during the busiest day, with our slowest day seeing around 20 people. Several sea kayaking groups stopped for lunch at the light station as well as chartered groups hiked in for the afternoon. There are no paved roads on this isolated island — only dirt lanes that are mostly traversed by locals — of which there is only a handful. As visitors toured through, I retold the stories of the lighthouse keepers, their families, and the challenges of life in such a remote location.

Our time as docents became a chance to step back in time, to learn about the past and to share that knowledge with others. It was also a reminder of the importance of preserving a living history that may have begun years past yet the story is continuing to be written.

If you love history and are looking for a unique and rewarding volunteer experience, I highly recommend considering becoming a docent at a local lighthouse. To find out more about the Turn Point Lighthouse Preservation Society, becoming a member or a volunteer, find more on the website.