At last the small white tower of the lighthouse appears above the horizon like a ship. Its glass panels are misted over, blurring the weak beam. We doubt whether this light can be seen at any distance at sea on a day like this, though most lighthouses today provide little in the way of navigational function, since ship orientation is done primarily by radio signals and LORAN. The lighthouse sits in a small compound of three unmarked, one-story, whitewashed buildings. At one time a wooden fence enclosed the buildings, but several of its sections have tumbled down and the local sheep roam and graze inside its boundaries at will, picking at whatever remains of gardens raised by the families of former lighthouse keepers.

~ Bob Finch, “Cape St. Mary’s” in Ecotone