“The job is so full-time, it really does require an absolute love for the place and its history,” Rodgers said. He has a genuine love of maritime history, and that’s critical for any successful candidate, he said. Rodgers also studied traditional sail-making and rope rigging, ran sailing schooners and charted small expedition cruise ships, among other jobs at sea. That’s where Rodgers’ background was particularly useful. He earned his captain’s license at the tender age of 19, having already spent several years working on a charter fishing boat and sailing classic yachts. One of the pair must also have a Coast Guard’s commercial boat operator’s license, Butt said. On a recent Sunday, that meant Meeker and Rodgers were planning dinner and breakfast for two pescatarians and one guest who doesn’t eat carbohydrates, a challenging feat to accomplish in the same meal. The menus change daily, Meeker said, and are tailor-made to guests’ food allergies and diets. High-quality professional culinary experience is a must, said Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, who also serves as president of the board of directors for the nonprofit that maintains the historic site. It can be chaotic at times, said Che Rodgers, who’s been running the inn with his partner, Jillian Meeker, for the past two years. The innkeepers haul laundry back to Richmond for washing, perform a deep cleaning of the historic property, do small maintenance jobs, plan menus and stock up on provisions for the next four nights of service. There are guests to ferry back to the mainland, beds to turn, rooms to clean, and a four-course dinner to prep before fetching the next round of guests. Then there’s champagne to pour, hors-d’oeuvres to pass, dinner to serve and dishes to wash.ĭays “off” are no less full. For the privilege of 360-degree bay views, there’s coffee to make and breakfast to serve on the four days guests share the island, a short history lesson to deliver and a historic fog horn to bring to life. Job applications are due by the end of the month.īut applicants beware: It’s no walk in the park. The historic East Brother Light Station off the coast of Richmond in the San Pablo Strait is seeking two new innkeepers, preferably a couple, to take over running the bed and breakfast there come May. "It's a good program for anyone who loves lighthouses and anyone who loves history, for sure," she said.RICHMOND - It sounds too good to be true: Get paid around $130,000 to live for free in a Victorian lighthouse on a private island in the bay. Stampfler will also be talking about lighthouses and lighthouse keepers from the Thumb, including Port Hope where the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse has stood since 1848. It was a difficult job as well, isolating, physically and emotionally taxing, and in some cases fatally dangerous. It fascinated her that these women had been involved in the usually male-dominated government position of a lighthouse keeper. She heard stories of women who had worked in lighthouses since the 1830s and identified at least 50 who had excelled in the profession or had particularly good stories. "I was quickly drawn to the stories of the lighthouse keepers more so than the structure of the lighthouses themselves," she said. She quickly branched out to the rest of the Michigan coastline and wider Great Lakes region, reading not only about the lighthouses but the people who ran them. She first started researching lighthouses during the 1990s, when she worked for an organization that promoted light on Lake Michigan. "I think it's something that needs to be told to people and that they should celebrate these women for the roles they played in our maritime history," Stampfler said.
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