
Stannard Rock Light - weare138
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/01/stannard-rock-light-loneliest-place-in.html
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saalweachter
The hermit in me wants to scoff and say "I'd love to be so isolated for weeks
at a time", but (aside from the fact that its the "isolated together" problem)
the sheer inhospitable nature of that environment as well as the somewhat
_involuntary_ nature of the isolation (you may sign up to go, but you can't
choose when to leave) is sufficiently daunting for me that I'll stick to more
Walden-esque hermitages.

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gumby
Much easier at Walden where your mum can come and do your laundry.

Being stuck in confined space with six others, hearing (and telling) the same
jokes over and over... _shudder_

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slx26
but what if they were 6 mathematicians from the same disciplines, or 6
musicians, or 6 politicians (or 6 sociologists if you prefer that)? might be
fun to see what people that share a common background can come up with when
they have that much time to "waste". the idea of being left alone with a few
clever humans and nothing else to do or to go is actually quite interesting.
not the next big brother, but hey...

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gumby
Having done some multi-week blue water sailing and multi-week backcountry
trips, I can tell you that silence is golden. I prefer to go with my dog who
is delighted when I have something to say and perfectly satisfied when I want
to be quiet.

* yes I know that “Lassie” is not a documentary and if I got in to trouble the dog could not rescue me.

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alhirzel
I live near this and have visited several remote lighthouses; they're spooky
places. I have been involved in some restorative work to this one:
[https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=731](https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=731)
\- there are crazy entries in the logbook of the Manitou island and Gull Rock
lights.

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webbdev
I hope to make it out to this lighthouse someday to get photographs. I’m
trying to get as many photos of Michigan lighthouses for an app I’m building.
[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/explore-
michigan/id1024621444](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/explore-
michigan/id1024621444)

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Jaruzel
More detailed article with photos of the interior of the lighthouse:

[https://www.lakesuperior.com/the-
lake/maritime/333-stannard-...](https://www.lakesuperior.com/the-
lake/maritime/333-stannard-rock-lighthouse-the-loneliest-place-on-the-
continent/)

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Stratoscope
Another interesting article from the same site, about one of the men who
survived the 1961 explosion and returned with his family in 2015:

[https://www.lakesuperior.com/the-lake/maritime/54-years-
afte...](https://www.lakesuperior.com/the-lake/maritime/54-years-after-tragic-
explosion-coast-guardsman-returns-to-stannard-rock/)

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solotronics
I think we can draw some interesting parallels with the first colonists on
Mars and what they may experience.

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rhn_mk1
Is this kind of isolation different than the one astronauts experience? The
record space stay is over 437 days, way over the 99 of the lighthouse:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeri_Polyakov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeri_Polyakov)

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saalweachter
I think the two most important difference would be that the astronauts are
basically in constant communication and are also extremely busy.

It might also be slightly different in that I'm pretty sure that astronauts
_could_ leave whenever they want (in that I'm pretty sure the ISS always has a
capsule ready in case of an emergency). Granted, it would be _bad_ if an
astronaut just whimsically decided to land, and you do need to be "rescued"
once you land, whether on land or sea, but that's more than the lighthouse
keepers had. Just knowing you can or can't leave, if you really, really want
to, makes the psychological difference between "a remote place you are
choosing to stay" and "a prison".

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mamurphy
This seems like a similar setting to the lighthouse in the 2019 documentary:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lighthouse_(2019_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lighthouse_\(2019_film\))

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trimbo
It does seem similar, but it's an original film, not a documentary.

