Point Robinson Caretaker To Lose Home
By Sue Clark on Oct 20, 2007 in Lighthouse Keeper Jobs 
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Under a proposal put forth by the Vachon (Washington) Park District Commissioner Bill Ameling and the President of the Keepers of Point Robinson Lighthouse, Capt. Joe Wubbold, the resident caretaker will be moved from his rent free home in the former lightkeeper’s residence to a new place (yet to be built) in the park’s upper parking area. Reason? To earn more money in rental fees, which in theory would pay for the new caretaker residence.
The former lightkeeper’s residence is now a duplex, thanks to the Coast Guard dividing it up decades ago by “dropping a bulkhead” into the building, and now the VPD and Keeper’s Society would like to restore it to historic accuracy. The half that has been completed has been rented out to the vacationing public, with rates of $750 to $900 a week, depending on the season. The theory by the Park Commissioner is that they can get more money by renting the whole rather than the half.
In the meantime, the caretaker will be displaced, and although there hasn’t been much vandalism, at one point someone did throw a rock at the lighthouse, breaking the lantern room windows. It fortunately missed hitting the irreplaceable Fresnel lens, but the concern is leaving an empty building would be an even more tempting target.
“At Agren, there’s not much you can vandalize,” Ameling said. “But if you move the (Point Robinson) caretaker and those buildings are empty…”
But Wubbold said he believes a caretaker at the upper parking lot “would be better able to control access to the whole park.”
A new house cannot be put nearer to the light, due to historic designation restrictions. Park officials are planning a complete financial study to see if the cost of the new residence will be outweighed by increased revenue from the rental. If they go ahead with these plans, the caretaker loses what is probably one of the best perks of the job, a seaside home.
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