#Lighthouse keeper pay license

The Minnesota Historical Society took over the lighthouse after the Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1969.ДЄt the top of the lighthouse is what Radzak calls Split Rock's crown jewel - a huge Fresnel lens made by French glassworkers. There's 50 people standing there listening to you talk, or climbing the steps to the lighthouse.' '

'And then you want to say, 'Look behind you. 'If my wife and I are sitting on the front porch they say, 'Do you live here?' Yes. 'My wife and I just got married a couple of months earlier and we were ripe for a change so it worked out great.'ДЇor lighthouse lovers - and apparently there are a lot - Split Rock seems to evoke solitude, at least based on the questions Radzak has fielded again and again.

People marvel at the lighthouse standing sentinel on the 160-foot cliff looking out across the breathtaking expanse of Lake Superior. Split Rock has been drawing visitors since the 1920s, when Highway 61 opened. Lee Radzak, who will retire Friday after 36 years at the iconic Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior's North Shore, might argue there are few jobs that people misconceive more. There may be few occupations considered more romantic than being a lighthouse keeper. Radzak is retiring after 36 years as the longest-serving manager of the iconic Minnesota lighthouse. The job, first reported by SFgate, requires a combination of meticulous planning and adaptability in the face of unexpected weather, broken appliances, and a variety of guest needs in a place where problems canвЂ™t be solved with a run to the grocery or hardware store.Lee Radzak looks over the Lake Superior at Split Rock Lighthouse located near Two Harbors, Minn. Over the weekends, Rodgers and Meeker juggle ferrying guests to and from the island with preparing dinner and breakfast for and cleaning up after as many as 10 people. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are spent doing laundry, completing a lengthy grocery trip, and addressing pending maintenance вЂ“ and as the salt air eats away at 150-year-old structures, thereвЂ™s always maintenance. The East Brother schedule is grueling, often running from early morning until late night. Meeker ran a bed and breakfast for four years and loves baking. Rodgers grew up working on fishing boats in Alaska, then later in fine dining and on cruise ships.

#Lighthouse keeper pay license

Keepers must cook those gourmet meals, clean, provide spotless customer service, organize supply runs, and pilot the stationвЂ™s single boat, which requires a captainвЂ™s license from the US Coast Guard.Д«ut Meeker and her partner, Che Rodgers, just so happen to fit those qualifications. Since the keepers, usually a couple, are the stationвЂ™s only workers, the necessary skillset is as unique as the place itself. The job is certainly alluring, concedes Jillian Meeker, one of the outgoing lighthouse keepers. After a tour of the little station complex вЂ“ the Victorian quarters the lighthouse, which remains operational a centuries old-rain cistern вЂ“ they enjoy a multi-course dinner and a gourmet breakfast the next morning. Upon arrival, guests receive champagne and hors dвЂ™oeuvres. Photograph: Nick ArnottДЄ local group saved the station from planned demolition in the 1970s, lobbying for its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and working to restore and manage it as a bed and breakfast.