Three years later, the lighthouse station was bought by writer Bernice Richmond and her husband, sociologist Reginald Robinson. Richmond wrote two books about the years she and her husband spent on Mark Island: Winter Harbor and Our Island Lighthouse. In Our Island Lighthouse she wrote:

"It is hard for people living on the mainland to understand the contentment found on an island. . . I couldn't put into words . . . how terribly important it was to sleep on the island with sea sounds encircling me. I couldn't explain how I looked forward each morning to that first rush of salty air through my kitchen door, to the early tour I take over the vein-like paths to the gardens. . ."

She also wrote matter-of-factly about "unreal callers" at the lighthouse. She would hear what sounded like a group of people in conversation outside, followed by knocks at the door. When she answered the door, there was invariably nobody in sight. Richmond’s brother reported hearing disembodied voices in the lighthouse and wondered how his sister could spend so much time alone there.

In the 1950s, the island was bought by Rene Prud-Hommeaux, an author of children's books. It was later owned for a time by playwright Gerald Kean. A recent owner was writer and retired banker William C. Holden III, who wrote several novels during his time on the island. He renovated the property so that the lighthouse is in its best shape in years. "I don't feel like I own it. I feel like a caretaker, like I am entrusted with it. It's a very special place," he once told Lighthouse Digest.

The property has recently been sold again. Winter Harbor Light can be seen offshore from the loop road on Acadia National Park's Schoodic Penninsula. It can also be seen from some of the tour boats leaving Bar Harbor.