What was the red brick building on the property used for, and which building housed the oil for the lighthouse years ago?
A. The brick building apparently was built with the keepers’ house, or very shortly thereafter, but it has been much enlarged. It functioned as the boiler house, a coal-fired steam plant for the assorted whistles, and diaphones, used as fog-warning devices. And possibly for house heating? We don’t know. It now houses emergency auto-start diesel generators and fuel tanks, and telemetering apparatus in contact with U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Old photos show a large smokestack along with other buildings – long gone. The frame building on the left was a barn. We do not know the function of the building between the house and the boiler building. The lantern was oil fired for many years before later electrification. The former U.S. Lighthouse Service is said to have been very conservative and traditional before it passed to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939.The smal white structure about one-third of the way along the patch is unidentified. To the right of the
