Use
The lighthouse served as both the home and workplace of eleven successive keepers and their families. The first floor was divided into a living room and kitchen and the second floor into four bedrooms. Coal stoves provided heat while large pumps retrieved water from the lake. The keepers used the nearby island to the north, Hogback Island, as farmland. The Island was auctioned off in 1956 after the lighthouse was decommissioned and was renamed Sunset Island.
The exposed location and northerly climate meant that ice figured heavily in incidents involving the lighthouse. In one instance, the keeper's wife went into labor in January 1888. Summoned by the fog bell, the doctor and his assistant attempted to cross the ice, but were blown north when it broke up, eventually landing safely at South Hero Island (also known as Grand Isle), four miles to the north. The baby was safely born with the father assisting alone.
Read more about this topic: Colchester Reef Light
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