Lighthouses are a funny thing. They're picturesque, almost childlike. We visit

them on vacation, take pictures in front of them while wearing

polo shirts and fanny packs, but there's also darkness inherent in the purpose of

a lighthouse. Something so mundane and simple, keeping a lantern burning, has these

enormous consequences. If a light goes out, whether by a gust of wind or a moment of forgetfulness or a brief distraction,

entire ships crash. People are thrown into the sea.

They drown. There's a famous saying about war.

There's a famous saying about war

that it's long periods of boredom, punctuated. a On some nights, more than 200 ships sailed through the Long Island Sound, each one relying on a light burning in the distance.

That is a lot of responsibility for a 12 year old girl.

I'm Johanna Meyer and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today, we visit the Fair Weather Island Light and we meet Kate Moore, a girl who poured her heart and soul into caring for this

for Lorne Lighthouse for more than 70 years, who defied every idea of what a lighthouse keeper should be.

Kate's unlikely story after this. Grisled face, tangled hair, yellow rain slicker tall rubber boots lonely old man ask anyone to

describe a typical lightkeeper and that's probably what you'll hear so how does a 12 year old girl end up in charge of a

lighthouse and for nearly a century no less? It started as many things do with an accident.

In 1817, Kate Moore's father, Stephen had a problem.

He needed to get a load of hay inside before it started to rain.

He climbed to the top of the hay pile, working fast, but in an instant the oxen bolted.

And Stephen toppled.

He broke his arm and his jaw, and he could no longer work his job as a merchant.

But his old boss pulled some strings and he got Stephen a job as a

...