After years of Berkeley activism in the 1960s and '70s, Jeff and Judi Burke threw up their hands and drove east. They eventually restored an old inn ...
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After years of Berkeley activism in the 1960s and '70s, Jeff and Judi Burke threw up their hands and drove east. They eventually restored an old inn on Isle au Haut, a harsh, barely inhabitable outcrop seven miles off the Maine coast, setting out to do what they could not do in California: create their own utopia. For the past ten years the Burkes have led a life of simple pleasures -- of nature, cool sea spray, warm fires on howling nights, good food shared with small groups of guests around a single table, hiking trails -- where the only link to civilization is the daily (and sometimes unreliable) mail boat. "Island Lighthouse Inn" is a collection of entertaining stories of their everyday adventures -- of fixing the vintage Servel refrigerator in the B&B kitchen, of buying a dinner bell from a crotchety local antique dealer, of figuring out how to run the inn's septic tank without electrical power, of painting the 796 windows in the lighthouse and outbuildings -- as well as tales of the often colorful people who have stayed at the inn and others they have met on and off the island. Honoring tradition, valuing simplicity, treasuring the careful way things used to be done -- these are the hallmarks of life at the Keeper's House Inn, and the reasons the many loyal guests keep returning year after year. "Island Lighthouse Inn" includes recipes for 21 tantalizing dishes served at the inn, from Downeast Blueberry Muffins to Ida's Sea Clam Pie, as well as engravings by Maine artist Siri Beckman.
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