It was inhabited throughout the 1700s through 1976, with the Faulkner family and various lightkeepers of the Falkner Island Light. During the War of 1812, the British forces landed on the island and told the keeper's wife, Thankful Stone, that they had nothing to fear as long as they kept the light burning. Later, the keeper, Solomon Stone, had to put the light out per order of the New London customs inspector. The British threatened to blow up the lighthouse and Stone got an order to relight the lighthouse. In 2008, the generator house for the light was renovated to be a summer house for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service interns who study the endangered roseate terns. The erosion control project was completed, but Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy greatly reduced the breeding habitat of the terns to just .