If you plan on making a trip to Isle Au Haut, reading The Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw is, in my opinion, a prerequisite. Through her frank and humorous storytelling, Greenlaw makes you feel like a long-time resident of the island’s small community. The book also provides some insight into the history of the Isle Au Haut or Robinson Point Lighthouse, as it was Greenlaw’s great-grandfather, Charles Robinson, who sold the parcel of land on Robinson Point to the government. The lighthouse, the last traditional one built in Maine, was lit for the first time on Christmas Eve of 1907. Only two keepers lived on the point, before the light was automated in 1934 and the dwelling was sold to Greenlaw’s grandparents. Sharing the lighthouse property between numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins proved divisive, and the family put it on the market in 1986. Jeff and Judi Burke purchased the dwelling and converted it into the Keeper’s House Inn.

Here is a portion of Greenlaw’s witty description of the Inn, but be warned that some lighthouse enthusiasts might be offended (or incriminated) by it: “Although the nightly rates for rooms are considerable, the Inn is booked solid months in advance, the majority of the rooms occupied by lighthouse lovers from God-knows-where. Jeff and Judi like to refer to their clientele as “lighthouse aficionados,” but I prefer “freaks” or “fanatics.” The true freaks are highly recognizable and nearly always female, sporting lighthouse clothes, handbags, and jewelry. Any woman from whose earlobes swing lighthouse towers or from whose arm dangles a lighthouse purse has got to be a guest at the Keeper’s House. The men are less obvious, and unless they are accompanied by a woman whose jacket displays pictures of every lighthouse on the eastern seaboard, they can go about the business of lighthouse obsession undetected.”