Robert Thayer Sterling, the author of this book, was born on Peaks Island in Portland, Maine, in 1876. He worked for several years as a young man as a newspaper reporter for the Portland Press . As a lighthouse keeper himself, Sterling had a special affinity for these places and their keepers. He wrote from an insider’s perspective, which makes this book unique and important among lighthouse history books. This new 2024 edition is annotated by U.S. Lighthouse Society historian Jeremy D'Entremont.