FOR more than 100 years, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse has provided Bermudian sailors with a guiding light home — and for Heidi Cowen, who took over the Lighthouse Tearoom a few years ago; it genuinely felt like she had come home.“I had been looking for a place of my own for quite a few years, but there was never a good feeling. But when the Tearoom came up for sale I knew my search was over,” she says.

“Quite a few of my friends and family told me I would never make it, but I still bought it because I had a vision of what I could do.”

In keeping with tradition, Ms Cowen’s family has been associated with Gibbs Hill Lighthouse for more than a century. Starting with her great great grandfather, J.J. Cowen in 1858, three generations of Cowen men were lighthouse keepers at Gibbs Hill, until her grandfather, Rudolph Cowen was forced to give up his position when the lighthouse went electronic in 1969. No longer in need of a keeper, Ms Cowen and her brother, who had grown up in the house for seven years, moved out along with their grandparents. The house was rented to various people until about 13 years ago, when it was turned into a tearoom.

“Every time I walk past the open lighthouse door I breathe in deeply. It is that smell of iron that brings back the best memories of Gibbs Hill for me,” she muses. “I am taken back to my childhood when my grandfather would sit at the top of the lighthouse with me at his side as he pointed out all the interesting parts of the island to anyone that climbed to the top.”

Open daily from 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. for breakfast and lunch, the Lighthouse Tearoom is also open on Friday and Saturday evenings from 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. for dinner, but reservations are required. It also offers private dinner and cocktail parties — “And we have held the most amazing weddings - the views are breathtaking,” says Ms Cowen.

For six years, Ms Cowen, who studied business at the Westervelt Business School in London Ontario, has been manning the helm at the Tearoom as owner, waitress, cashier, cook, hostess and admittedly, “one of the best pot washers in the building”.

Although she had planned on entering into the business world once she’d returned from school abroad, she says, “it didn’t pan out like that — I found that I couldn’t sit at a desk for very long, and I came to hate fluorescent lights”.

So she left the office and became a bartender as a way to get her foot in the door of the hospitality industry. Although she says her parents were not too pleased with this decision, they supported her and kept encouraging her to move forward.

Ms Cowen drew inspiration from her parents. Her father, W.A. (Toppy) Cowen started out as a stock boy at the Mid Ocean Club and moved on to become the general manager and was also the managing director at The Pink Beach Club for over two decades.

“I was always, and still am, very proud to stand next to my father,” she says.

Her mother was head of the Bank of Bermuda lunchroom.

“And she is responsible for all of my cooking abilities.

“She taught me not to be afraid of anything and to keep positive at all times, no matter what the world throws at you.”

Along with the support of her parents, Ms Cowen attributes much of her current success to her manager, Terry Iris.

“If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she admits.

“It is because of his faith in me and his constant support that I have been able to go forward. We make each other laugh constantly. That is what makes the difference of a job that has to be done and a job that is fun to do.

“Being as we have Bermuda’s best tourist attraction in our backyard, we meet all sorts of people from all over the world. When these guests come back every year just to see us, or write us to let us know what a great time they had in our place, you know you’ve done a great job — a fond memory is made and it keeps you coming back for more.”

Guests might also keep going back with hopes of catching a glimpse of the resident otherworldly presence.

“I, myself, have never seen a ghost or anything that resembles one,” Ms Cowen says of the claims that the tearoom is haunted. “There are, however, people that swear they’ve seen ‘her’ — apparently she is a woman in a rather large hat.”

One evening, while talking with guests, Ms Cowen recalls one pointing out a woman at the front waiting to be seated.

“I know all the sounds in the building and hadn’t heard anyone come in, but I went to look anyway. ‘No, there’s no one there’, I assured her,” she explains.

“A minute later she said, ‘The woman is back!’ This time we both went to the top of the stairs to take a look. ‘I tell you,’ she said, ‘there was a woman in a large hat standing there’.”

On another occasion, one of her regular customers was surprised when they arrived and found no one in the restaurant. “She said, ‘Oh, I thought you had people in here. I saw a woman with a hat on sitting at the window.

“Who is this woman that keeps cropping up? I have no idea, but whatever her mission, she definitely is going about it in style.”

As far as the future of the tearoom is concerned, Ms Cowen is confident in her success and plans to keep on doing what she has been all along.

“I have taken it to the ‘next level’ and I’m keeping it that way,” she says. “I only have Bermudians working here. We’re offering great food, ambience, service, a little bit of history and doing it with a great deal of passion.

“My walls are totally decorated with past lighthouse keepers and old pictures of Bermuda. It would seem that maybe I’m stuck behind the times, but it is important to me to keep the history of this lighthouse and the beautiful island that we live in forever present.”

|0x95|For more information on The Lighthouse Tearoom, visit www.lighthousetearoom.com