During our two weeks at Burnt Island we met many people, many of which were families visiting the Boothbay region from all over the country. We met people from Oklahoma to Florida, to people who live only an hour away from us in our small upstate New York town. Most every person was thrilled to see the house door open, while we greeted them from the front porch, and when asked if they would like to see the inside, and go up the tower, the usual response was "yes that would be incredible, we had no idea that the house or tower would be open today!" They would just stop by to enjoy the beauty of the island and to take pictures of the scenery, so seeing inside and having us there to answer questions was a real treat. Some visitors would say they had been here several times before (especially during COVID) but no one was on the island to show them the Museum or tower.

For myself and family, sharing our stories, and living full time on the island for two weeks brought back great memories, but it also reminded us of how much hard work there is to do, and still left to be done. Seeing the joy we brought, not only to the children who visited but entire families was very gratifying; we offered to take a lot of pictures so the whole family could be in a picture with the tower, and the response was one of thanks and gratitude from almost every visitor. The experience also allowed us to observe what people were mostly interested in talking about and asking questions about. When I was telling people of my Mom having two very small kids, two dogs, and having to go ashore for groceries in the small boat in the boathouse, they could imagine that journey when they saw the boat. It also made me think of all the work my family did in the 1980s, as I did a lot of that work just to go grocery shopping. It gave me a new appreciation for the countless people whose lives we touched, and in turn I will never forget some of the people that touched my life during those two weeks as well.