By: Jim Wellman

Lighthouse People is more than the story of the men who operated and maintained the manned lighthouses around the rugged shoreline of Newfoundland and Labrador, it is also the story of their families.  While it took a special breed of man - especially in the early years - to commit to a life of hard work and isolation, it took a special breed of woman to support him.  The children of the lighthouse keeper often played a role in the upkeep and maintenance along with acquiring formal education either from their parents or from an itinerant teacher.  The solitude may not have been too daunting, for the work of a lighthouse keeper was often passed down from generation to generation.

The vast majority of lighthouses are now automated and unmanned.  Jim Wellman has written about a lifestyle which will soon be as romantic - and probably as inaccurate - as that of the wooden sailing ships and the men who sailed them.  They began together.  One has outlasted the other.