Its stone courses are so welded together that it has become like one huge piece of stone, and it sways under the blows of wind and wave as the trunk of a tree. But it as firm as the oak it simulates in form. The life tells terribly on the keepers. More than one has so far lost his mind as to attempt his own life, and several were removed because they became insane. In the summer, however, the keepers take turns going ashore, leaving two out of five always there.
Visitors often come off to the light.
The tower is always well supplied with water, fuel, and food. Minot's had nothing but round walls. Keepers also had to endure the tremendous thunder of the waves in storms. Waves several times have been known to actually sweep over the top of the lighthouse, and Keeper Milton Reamy claimed that a wave of 176 feet hit the tower on Christmas in 1909. Click HERE to see an excerpt from aerial film taken by historian Edward Rowe Snow showing heavy seas striking Minot's Ledge Light.