I lived rent-free on a small isolated island for a year – I went 2 months without power, but I loved it

A woman who lived on a small private island in San Francisco Bay for a year rent-free has revealed what it was like to live in isolation, even enduring two months without electricity.

Desiree Heveroh moved to East Brother Light Station – one of the oldest continuously operating lighthouses in the US – in 2020.

There, she took on the role of lighthouse keeper during the COVID-19 pandemic, managing the station’s day-to-day operations all by herself. She even took care of the island’s trash disposal under the tutelage of Jared Ward, an experienced Bay Area boat captain.

Ward also taught him how to operate the station boat in open water, as well as how to complete anchoring and landing.

On a small rocky island where San Francisco and San Pablo Bays meet, the East Brother Light Station was built in 1873. Its lighthouse and fog signal were built to serve as critical aids to ships navigating the Straits of messy.

For nearly a century, keepers maintained the light station by hand. But in the late 1960s, the US Coast Guard decided to automate the station and announced plans to dismantle the lighthouse. The local community was outraged and eventually managed to save the landmark.

In 1971, the station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in the late 1970s, a non-profit group was formed to restore its buildings after a decade of neglect. An island bed and breakfast has become a destination for tourists, adventure seekers and maritime history buffs.

In an interview on the YouTube channel World of Nuance, Heveroh explained that she was first introduced to the island when she happened to see a house on the lot while driving with her daughter many years ago.

“I was driving back from San Rafael to Richmond. My daughter was very young, under 10 at the time, and said, “There’s a house over there.” And I looked, and yes, there was one out in the water on an island. Heveroh recalled.

She spent the next several years researching the property and finding ways to get involved in its maintenance and restoration.

“I saw a section [on its website] where you can register to be a volunteer,” she explained. “My first project was to remove the old grout from the window frames, strip the paint, refill it and repaint it on the fog signal building on the left window.

“I worked with it all day because I wanted it to be perfect.â€

That first volunteer project began what would eventually become a ten-year love affair between Heveroh and the lighthouse. She would continue to work part-time on the island marketing the location.

“I would attend board meetings to give updates and get suggestions,” she said. “I kept thinking, I’m going to learn every facet, I’m going to learn every angle of this and I’m going to be an innkeeper.”

In 2020, her opportunity arose when the pandemic forced the island’s B&Bs to close, leaving innkeepers without a source of income—and forcing them to return to the mainland.

This left the island without full-time residents to handle the maintenance and day-to-day work required – which is where Heveroh stepped in.

She volunteered to go to the island and take care of him, despite having no idea how long she would be there. Also, the property she was renting at the time had been sold, leaving her without a permanent residence.

In other words, the stars were aligned for him.

Although the opportunity was something of a dream come true for her, Heveroh admitted that she had to face her own share of hard times on the island.

Perhaps most difficult was when the submarine cables supplying power to the light station failed, knocking out electricity for two months and leaving Heveroh with nothing but a 1930s-era generator to provide any form of warmth and light.

“But he wasn’t always reliable,” she said of the generator. “I learned to replace his engine and I could tell by smell or sound if something was wrong.”

After the generator leaked diesel fuel across the floor, Heveroh worked for days cleaning up the spill, using flour and baking soda to absorb the fuel.

“I’ve had all the time in the world to work things out here,” she said.

Keeping food cold was another challenge. Heveroh devised a rotation system, using blocks of ice to keep food frozen while the generator ran, and she grew her own vegetables and herbs.

“Every hour of power was precious,” she said. “It was a constant battle to preserve and preserve.â€

During her time on the island, she also tried to raise awareness of the light station, speaking to the media about efforts to keep the landmark operational.

After two very long months, power was finally restored to East Brother Light Station on May 28 after volunteers patched the damaged cable as a temporary solution.

The US Coast Guard, responsible for the cable, is reluctant to replace it because of the $1 million price tag. Solar panels have been proposed as an alternative.

“You get used to life without electricity, but turning the light switch and having light is amazing,” Heveroh said.

The light station will hold a special place in her heart, she said. “Every day was different, the sunsets, the wildlife. It was like existing in a bubble filled with miracles.â€

During the YouTube video, Heveroh returned to the island for the first time since her residency ended, expressing her joy at seeing it again filled with visitors.