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 [...]