Restoration of Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse on Swans Island, Maine, underway Restoration work on Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse began in April, thanks to the Friends of the Swans Island Lighthouse. Tito Masonry LLC of Portland is doing the work, which started in mid-April and is expected to cost about $172,000. The restoration of the masonry… Continue reading Lighthouse News of the Week
Captain Joshua Card here at Station Portsmouth Harbor. Today I want to tell you about Keeper James Burke, a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. James Burke began his career as a keeper, as I did some years earlier, at remote Boon Island, a jumbled pile of rocks some nine miles off the southern Maine coast.… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #14
Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse was built in 1875. It has been a beacon on Chesapeake Bay keeping boaters safe from the Thomas Point Shoal. This iconic lighthouse is the last surviving screwpile lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay and has been a National Historic Landmark since 1999. The lighthouse was transferred to the City of Annapolis, the… Continue reading Save the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
Ten of British Columbia’s Light Stations upgrading to renewable power Twenty-seven of the remote light stations on the coast of British Columbia, Canada, are still staffed by resident keepers. The stations have been powered by diesel generators up to now, but ten of the stations will soon be upgraded to solar and/or wind sources. The… Continue reading Lighthouse News of the Week
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. “Spirits,” as they were called in the 19th century, caused problems at lighthouses. The second keeper at East Rigolets Lighthouse in Louisiana, built in 1833, was fired for drunkenness. The 1857 Instructions to Keepers VIII states that inspectors and superintendents are authorized and required to discharge… Continue reading Kate’s Corner #38
Maine’s Seguin Lighthouse goes dark Seguin Light Station, on a 64-acre island off the mouth of the Kennebec River near Popham Beach in Maine, is home to the only active first-order Fresnel lens in northern New England. Recently, shortly before volunteers of the Friends of Seguin Island were due to start making preparations for the… Continue reading Lighthouse News of the Week
Kate Walker here, keeping the light on Robbins Reef. Last time we discussed hoisting materials up a cliff with a derrick at Split Rock Light Station in Minnesota. In contrast, construction materials were floated in to shore to build Tillamook Rock Light in Oregon in 1881. That lighthouse stands on a desolate and dangerous hazard… Continue reading Kate’s Corner #37
New caretakers for East Brother Island Light Station (CA) After a search that lasted for the past couple of months and drew a thousand applicants, the nonprofit that runs the East Brother Light Station bed and breakfast in California’s San Francisco Bay has hired a couple to serve as the new caretakers: Tyler Waterson and… Continue reading Lighthouse News of the Week
Captain Joshua Kenney Card here, up at Portsmouth Harbor Light Station in my home town of New Castle, New Hampshire. The cherry trees in Portsmouth are blooming and spring is really here at last. Soon the summer people will be stopping by and I’ll be taking them up in the tower. The lonely months of… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #13
Old Cape Henry Lighthouse (VA) reopens following dune restoration Following the completion of a seven-month dune restoration project that closed it back in September 2018, Virginia’s Old Cape Henry Lighthouse is again open to the public. The project entailed increasing the height of the top of the dune to cover the lighthouse’s sandstone base as… Continue reading Lighthouse News of the Week
