Several small, rocky islands in the northern part of San Francisco Bay carry lighthouses that were built in the nineteenth century to guide ships through narrow, fog-prone channels. The keeper’s house stood beside a wooden tower; supplies arrived by ship and whoever lived there operated the light each day. The automation of the twentieth century put an end to resident keepers at many stations, while those buildings that still existed were either left to decay or given over to preservation societies. Operating the station in modern times is quite a different experience. Power can be brought to the island via an underwater cable, the navigation light is often maintained by the Coast Guard and the non-profit organization handles maintenance costs by hosting guests for the night. If anything in that chain fails, the person living on the island is usually the first to notice and has few alternatives.
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