Massachusetts

How to Live in a Mass. Lighthouse for the Summer

You and your partner will need handyman skills, familiarity with boating on the ocean and the people skills to greet visitors by day and manage people staying overnight on weekends

The Bakers Island Light Station
Nick Walton

Summer jobs don't get more New England than this.

An enterprising couple with experience boating and fixing up homes has the chance to spend next summer living in and keeping up a lighthouse on an island far out in Massachusetts' Salem Sound.

Essex National Heritage Area is looking for volunteers to live at the Bakers Island Light Station from about mid-May to mid-September of 2023. They'll need handyman skills, familiarity with boating on the ocean and the people skills to greet visitors by day and manage people staying overnight on weekends either camping on the 10 acres of grounds or at the lighthouse's assistant keeper's house.

The only way for the public to get to the island, where other people do live in the summer, is by taking Essex Heritage's military-style landing boat, the Naumkeag.

People who are interested in applying to serve as keepers of the light station can email RyanC@essexheritage.org with their qualifications, experience and resume. Candidates were still being screened as of Tuesday, according to Essex Heritage.

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