Morning sunlight strikes the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse at 6:18 a.m. Wednesday in Lubec, Maine. As the easternmost point in the United States, Lubec gets some of the earliest sunrises in America - and some of the earliest sunsets, often before 4 p.m. in winter.

Lubec, Maine ? As the easternmost point in the United States, Lubec gets some of the earliest sunrises in America. But it also gets some of the most depressingly early sunsets, with the sun slipping below the horizon before 4 p.m. for weeks on end in early winter.

Which is why, after months of leaving work and eating dinner in dreary darkness, the people of Lubec are eagerly awaiting the earlier-than-usual arrival of daylight saving time this year.

By order of Congress, daylight saving time will start on March 11, three weeks early. Across the country, the sun will set an hour later. In Lubec, that will be 6:29 p.m.

It can’t happen soon enough for Jed Coggins, who said he will use the extra sunlight to dig clams, take walks or simply take in the sun.

“It signals the start of spring in my mind, and I need it,” Coggins, 78, said at McFadden’s Variety store and deli.