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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, Maine, Photo by Chuck Turk If Gus only knew... A lighthouse keeper’s job can be a lonely one, especially if it’s on a stag station – one that doesn’t have room for families. Such was the case at Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse at South Portland, Maine. The spark [...]
Penfield Reef Light, CT, photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com Now’s your chance to buy something you’ve always wanted – a lighthouse! Yes, right now, there are seven different lighthouses up for bid. So how do you buy your own lighthouse? Under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, the General Services [...]
Boston Light on Little Brewster Island, MA, photo by Chuck Turk 300 is a big number. And it’s worth celebrating, Since this is my 300th post on this blog, it is a special anniversary for me. And fittingly, I get to share it with a lighthouse. Not just any lighthouse, but the first [...]
Portland Head Light, ME, photo by Chuck Turk August 7 is National Lighthouse Day, the day on which we honor those majestic towers that were built to protect and guide mariners. Today, those lighthouses are historic symbols of man’s effort to help their fellowman. Many are still active aids to navigation despite modern [...]
Bob and Sandra Shanklin, The Lighthouse People If you like lighthouses, you enjoy looking at them. If you have the opportunity, you visit them in person. However, very few people ever get to visit all of them. But thanks to lighthouse photographers, we can still look at pictures of lighthouses in places we’ll [...]
American Shoal Lighthouse, Florida, photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com Lighthouses were not always the idyllic, romantic locations many have imagined them to be. Although some of us would welcome the peace and quiet of an isolated lighthouse, to many lighthouse keepers the solitude was depressing, boring and monotonous. Even when the keeper had a [...]
Libby Island Lighthouse, Maine Flash followed Keeper Gleason Colbeth everywhere. Keeper at Libby Island Light, Maine, Colbeth said his medium brown Irish setter was so intelligent she could almost talk. And being the devoted pet that she was, Flash never let her master out of her sight. If Colbeth went to the 1823 [...]
Angels Gate Lighthouse, CA, photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com Lighthouse keepers develop a relationship with the sea and learn to appreciate its personality. They also acquire an understanding of the creatures that live within it. Marine animals can provide food for the keepers, but they can also provide company. Along the west coast of the [...]
Rondout Creek Lighthouse, NY, courtesy lighthousefriends.com. Hudson River, NY, 1857 When George Murdock, the keeper at Rondout Creek lighthouse, didn’t return with the supplies, his wife Catherine knew something had happened. Her worries were confirmed when officials from the mainland arrived to tell her he had drowned on his way back to the [...]
Cuttyhunk Lighthouse, MA, 1891, photo courtesy USCG Cuttyhunk Lighthouse, at the western end of Cuttyhunk Island, provided guiding light into both Buzzard’s Bay on one side and Vineyard Sound on the other. The two-mile-long island was home to lighthouse keepers and their families for many years, beginning in 1823. In 1911, Levi [...]
Race Rock Lighthouse, NY, photo courtesy lighthousefriends.com Off the eastern end of Long Island Sound, you’ll find Fishers, Little Gull, Great Gull, and Plum – a string of islands. Many ships pass between the islands, but the deepest gap, called “The Race,” is just off the end of Fisher Island near a reef [...]
Skerryvore Lighthouse, photo by Ian Cowe The Stevenson family of Scotland is renown around the world as a dynasty of lighthouse builders. For five generations, the Stevenson’ engineering skills were employed to build structures that are still impressive, having withstood the onslaught of nature and time. Names like “Skerryvore” and “Bell Rock,” [...]
Start Point Lighthouse, Devon, UK Start Point is one of the most exposed peninsulas on the English Coast, running sharply almost a mile into the sea. The rugged, windswept headland was not a popular assignment for the families of lighthouse keepers sent to the 150-year-old lighthouse situated at the end. Winters seemed especially [...]
St. John's Point Lighthouse, Ireland, photo by Storefix, wikimedia commons Just down the road from the first church built by St. Patrick stands St. John’s Point Lighthouse. Set near ancient ruins, the lighthouse is located on the most easterly point of Ireland and marks the entrance to Dundrum Bay, an area notorious [...]
White Island (Isles of Shoals) Lighthouse People on the New Hampshire seacoast knew it was out there. Several miles from shore, on the southern tip of White Island in the Isles of Shoals, the only lighthouse off the coast of New Hampshire, sat sadly alone and decaying. Built in 1859, the White [...]
Eastern Point Lighthouse, Gloucester, MA, photo courtesy Kraig Anderson Massachusetts’ Gloucester Harbor is known as America’s oldest seaport, supporting fishermen, whalers, traders and even smugglers since 1616. The area is also known for its dangerous currents, ledges, and storms which claimed 779 vessels and 5,305 lives between 1830 and 1910. But another [...]
The Maidens Lighthouses, Ireland Where did a young person who lived at a lighthouse meet other young people? How did they find someone to date, fall in love with, and marry? At other lighthouses, of course. Due to the remoteness of lighthouses, the children of keepers often met and married the children of [...]
Casquets Lighthouse, UK, photo courtesy Trinity House Lighthouse keepers had a 24/7 job, but even they had free time, especially on stations where their families weren't allowed. When the sea was peaceful and the duties were done, what did a light keeper do with his time? Of course many lightkeepers liked to fish, [...]
Start Point Lighthouse, Devon, UK, source Wikipedia Commons, photo by Nilfanion Gordon knew it was only a matter of time before his occupation and his way of life would be gone. Trinity House, the governing body of lighthouses in the United Kingdom, had detailed to its lighthouse keepers the plans to automate [...]
Cats have been friends of mariners for centuries. They had an important job on ships – to keep the vessel free of rats and mice that not only ate food supplies, but gnawed through the ships’ ropes. Cats were also common along waterfronts where they controlled rodents in warehouses and helped clean up the remains [...]
McNab's Island Lighthouse on Maugher's Beach, Nova Scotia “No fair! Why do I have to do all the work?” Maybe you’ve heard this complaint before, but you wouldn’t have heard it from lighthouse keepers or their families. Lighthouse keeping wasn’t an easy lifestyle, but for lighthouse families, it was a busy, active [...]
Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, photo courtesy of NASA When Cape Canaveral Lighthouse was first lit in 1848, its location was so remote, no one but the keeper and his family lived near it. However when the Civil War broke out in 1861, Keeper Mills Burnham had unexpected company. Under the orders of the new [...]