Keep the light burning. That’s the first duty of every lightkeeper. For the lightkeepers of Admiralty Head Lighthouse, this meant tromping up winding stairs to the top of the lighthouse tower at night, carrying oil and a metal box, called a wickie basket, packed with the tools necessary to clean the light and care for the lens and wick.

At the top, the lightkeeper could look out on the black night sea and walk onto an outdoor catwalk to clean the outer glass. The lightkeeper was responsible for keeping the wick trimmed so the light burned brightly and for keeping the lens and glass clean so the light could be seen from as far away as possible.

Since lighthouses were usually in remote areas, it was a lonely job, said Admiralty Head Lighthouse docent Lee Hart.

Hart will present the stories and responsibilities of the lightkeepers of Admiralty Head Lighthouse from its first lighting in 1861 to its decommissioning in 1922. The presentation is set for Monday, Oct. 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Coupeville Library.

Hart will tell stories of a woman who took over as lightkeeper from her father, how the building of Fort Casey negated the need for a lighthouse and more.

One trend among the lightkeepers Hart will present is their long beards, since the majority of them were retired sea captains who were compelled to be a saving force for other sailors. Many married and had families, which kept them from putting their lives at risk at sea.

Many people ask Hart if he was a lightkeeper because an antique-style photo of Hart dressed in a lightkeeper’s uniform greets those entering Admiralty Head Lighthouse.

“I couldn’t possibly have been a real lightkeeper because my wife makes me keep my beard too short,” Hart said.

Hart’s wife originally lit Hart’s interest in lighthouses and they traveled to many, including memorable lighthouses in Baltimore and Virginia Beach.

A year after Hart and his wife moved to Whidbey Island, Hart had a surgery that kept him in bed for six weeks. On the sixth week, Hart saw an ad for volunteering as a docent at the lighthouse and joined.

“Now I’m the lighthouse person and my wife is just ancillary,” Hart said with a smile.

Hart has been a docent since 2001. A few years after he started, Hart wanted his own lightkeeper’s uniform for fun. He found a pattern online and commissioned a lady in Oak Harbor to make it for him.

Hart volunteers in the gift shop and is also a member of Keepers of Admiralty Head Lighthouse, a group focused on finding funding for lighthouse maintenance, like the restoration of the lens.

“Many people love lighthouses and we want them to love our lighthouse the most,” Hart said, noting the richness of its history.

Today, lighthouses are no longer manned. They are equipped with multiple electric light bulbs so that when one burns out another automatically pops up. Hart said Admiralty Head Lighthouse transports people back in time 100 years to a time when oil lamps were all people needed.

With a light that could be seen 17 miles away, Admiralty Head Lighthouse was a beacon to guide sailing ships trying to steer into Admiralty Inlet, a tough endeavor considering the challenges of steering a sailing ship. Sailors were always on the move raising and dropping sails. With only a 3-mile opening into the inlet, sailors followed the lighthouse’s light until it was a certain brightness and then began to turn to starboard to enter the inlet.

Lightkeeping was a family job if the lightkeeper was married. Children were home-schooled — “probably the earliest home-schooling program,” Hart said.

On foggy nights, the lightkeeper stayed up all night manually ringing the bell to warn ships. If the lightkeeper had a family, the children could be sent up instead, Hart said.

During the day, lightkeepers were responsible for getting enough sleep to man their nightly duties. They also did repairs around the lighthouse, tended to mules that were their transportation and gardened.

“Like many other people of the era, they were self-sufficient,” Hart said. Wives canned food for winter. The forests were rich with deer and turkeys to hunt.

In Admiralty Head Lighthouse’s case, the lighthouse tower was attached to the house the lightkeepers lived in, which makes this lighthouse unique, Hart said. Some lighthouses didn’t have attached towers. The Red Bluff Lighthouse, removed by Fort Casey builders and replaced by Admiralty Head Lighthouse, was built with the lighthouse tower coming out of the center of the house.

Lightkeepers at Admiralty Head Lighthouse enjoyed three bedrooms upstairs and a parlor, living room and kitchen downstairs. Lightkeepers used oil lamps; electricity wasn’t installed in the lighthouse until long after it closed. There was a coal-burning stove and even a coal-burning hot water heater, making the lighthouse one of the first homes on Whidbey Island to have both hot and cold running water and an indoor toilet.

To ward off the loneliness, lightkeepers read. Ships bringing monthly provisions also brought a library box, a wooden chest with shelves of books. Hart will display one at his presentation.

But as the electric lights of Fort Casey became brighter, the need for a lighthouse diminished and therefore the need for lightkeepers. Hear their stories at Hart’s presentation and light your own curiosity for lighthouses.