Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, Scotland When visiting the United Kingdom, my husband and I rented a car to see lighthouses in Scotland. Like in the United States, these lighthouses are governed by different entities, so access is varied. The light apparatus of those that are still active aids to navigation are managed by [...]
On June 6, 1944, the largest naval, land and air operation in history when 160000 Allied forces landed in Nazi-occupied France at Normandy, signaling the beginning of the end of World War II. Orfordness Lighthouse in camouflage, UK, 1944 To commemorate the 80th anniversary of this historic day, Trinity House, the General [...]
Monkey Island, 2024 Recently, I had the pleasure of "discovering" a very unusual lighthouse, the lighthouse on Monkey Island, Florida. This lighthouse isn’t located on an ocean or a huge lake. No, this lighthouse is on a tiny island in the Homosassa River. So how did it get there and why, you ask. [...]
Merry Christmas! May your heart be filled with the love and joy of the one true light. I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12 "Take Out Window" by Charles Wysocki.
South Foreland Lighthouse, Dover Cliffs by archangel 12, Flickreviewr Due to my affinity for lighthouses, readers expect to find a lighthouse in my books. Sometimes the lighthouse is the main setting, other times it’s just mentioned and may be missed unless searched for. As a result, looking for the lighthouse in the story [...]
Birdcage Lantern What does Baileys Harbor Light in Wisconsin, Selkirk Light in New York, Prudence Island Light in Rhode Island, and the Old Cape Henry Light in Virginia have in common? Bailey's Harbor Light, Wisconsin Selkirk Light, New York In addition to all being [...]
May your 2022 be a year filled with blessings!
Thacher Island Twin Lights, photo courtesy Lighthousefrinds.com In 1864, a few days before Christmas, Maria Bray, wife of head lighthouse keeper of the Thacher Island Twin Lights, Alexander Bray, was in the keeper’s house, planning for the special day. She thought about what she’d prepare for Christmas dinner while she knitted a pair [...]
Les Hanois Lighthouse—built by Trinity House in 1862—marks the shoals and reefs off the coast of Guernsey. Situated at the western end of the Channel Islands, the white granite lighthouse rises from a reef on the southwest side of the Island of Guernsey. Les Hanois Lighthouse is important in the development of lighthouse engineering because [...]
Bishop Rock, photo by Richard Knights, Creative Commons Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a lighthouse keeper at Christmas at one of the isolated lighthouses in the middle of the water? Here’s a story about how some lighthouse keepers in the United Kingdom spent Christmas. It was [...]
Little River Lighthouse, Cutler Maine In July, 2013, my husband and I had the privilege of being honorary lighthouse caretakers at Little River Light on an island off the coast of Cutler, Maine. A dream come true, I'll never forget the experience we had for ten days on the island. We were hosts [...]
Race Point Light, Cape Cod, MA, photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com Closed for overnight stays summer 2020. With the threat of the COVID virus pandemic, most everyone has been affected in some way. Our lives have changed, and our futures questioned. For those of us housebound, we’ve hoped for summer vacation as an escape from [...]
New Canal Lighthouse, Flickr, Creative Commons, photo by hatchski What kind of a Mother’s Day gift do you give to a woman who took care of hundreds of people while tending a lighthouse at the same time? Margaret Norvell, who served as a lighthouse keeper at three different lighthouses in Louisiana, was [...]
Montauk Point Lighthouse, photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com. If you visit Montauk Point Lighthouse on the end of Long Island, New York, you’ll find it hard to believe the lighthouse was almost abandoned, either to be destroyed or allowed to fall into the sea by the encroaching waves. But that is exactly what almost happened. [...]
I'd like to welcome a fellow lighthouse lady, Elinor DeWire, who wrote this week's post. Elinor is a lighthouse expert and enthusiast, and so we have the latter in common. Hope you enjoy her post! Leave a comment and let us know. To the landsman, buoys are homely, rotund objects bobbing awkwardly in channels and [...]
More than twenty lighthouse keepers and assistant keepers served at the Galloo Island Lighthouse from the time of its first lighting in 1820 until its automation in 1963. But the one who served the longest was Robert C. Graves, whose tenure spanned thirty years, first as an assistant keeper in 1903, then as the head [...]
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light." Isaiah 9:2 The light of the world has come! Merry Christmas!
A Present for the Sentinel by Charles Wysocki How did the lighthouse keepers get their Christmas packages delivered? Most were sent by ship because there were often no roads to the lighthouses, or if there were, they might be impassable during part of the year. Our lighthouse keeper in this picture by [...]
Esopus Lighthouse, NY, by Jeff Severson I'm thankful for the fabulous colors of fall. What an amazing artist our Creator is! Have a blessed thanksgiving! Thank you to Jeff Severson who allowed me to use his gorgeous fall picture of Esopus Lighthouse, New York. You can find more of his beautiful photography [...]
Gay Head Light by Charles Wysocki "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1
Drogden Lighthouse, Denmark For years, this blog has featured only lighthouses and people who serve them, but today’s blog will be a bit different. Today, I want to tell you about a lighthouse tender, a very special lighthouse tender. A lighthouse tender is a boat that brought supplies to lighthouses. For many of [...]
White Shoal Lighthouse, Lake Michigan , Not a good place to stay in winter Did you think lighthouse keepers stayed and worked at the lighthouses all year long? So did I, until I found out that this was not the case for lighthouse keepers on the Great Lakes. Unlike other bodies [...]
Hello Lighthouse Enthusiasts and Readers, I owe you big time. Please accept my apologies for not posting on this site as often as I used to. Believe me, I've wanted to, but other commitments have prevented me from doing so, and since it takes a lot of time for me to research each story, the [...]
Crisp Point Lighthouse, MI, Photo by Chuck Turk “Are you sure we’re on the right road?” I asked my husband. He pointed to the lighthouse map on the seat and said, “There it is. See for yourself.” But the rocky, dirt road we were on gave no hint that a lighthouse was near. [...]
Alcatraz Lighthouse today, photo courtesy USLHS Alcatraz – the name conjures up a dark place, a place of no hope for the prisoners who were sent there. But in the beginning, it was a place of light. The Gold Rush in California and the subsequent increase in maritime traffic triggered the need [...]