Last US lighthouse keeper steps down from role at Boston Light Beacon

Sally Snowman waxed philosophical about her 20 years tending the lighthouse on Little Brewster Island in Massachusetts

Sally Snowman, the last remaining official lighthouse keeper in the US, retires this weekend from her post looking after the first lighthouse built in North America, on a tiny island in Boston harbour, in what would later become the United States.

Snowman, 72, has been looking after Boston Light Beacon on Little Brewster Island for two decades and it’s now being sold to a private owner. The arrangement – the new owner will be required to preserve it – comes almost 60 years after it was designated a national landmark and government funding secured to keep it staffed, making it the last staffed lighthouse in the country.