A light station was established on Maine’s 220-acre Great Duck Island in 1890, with a 42-foot-tall brick tower and three keepers’ dwellings. Only one of the three houses remain standing today. The light was automated in 1986 and it remains an active aid to navigation. In 1998 Great Duck Island Light Station, along with Mount… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite #22 – John Anderson, Great Duck Island, Maine

In January 2024, two powerful storms — just three days apart — struck northern New England, coinciding with the highest tide ever recorded in Portland, Maine, at 14.75 feet. The damage was severe up and down the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, and about a third of Maine’s 66 historic lighthouse sites suffered significant… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 318: The storms of 2024 and Maine’s lighthouses: David Pomerantz, Ford Reiche, and Bob Trapani

A lighthouse was proposed in 1896 to mark Peck (or Pecks) Ledge, at the east end of the Norwalk Islands in Connecticut. It began operation in 1906 and was the last staffed lighthouse to be built at a waveswept site on Long Island Sound. Its life as a staffed light was relatively short, only 27… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 317 – Artist Richard Klein and Peck Ledge, CT

This is an edited version of an interview with Sean Todd that was first heard in episode 72 in July 2020. Sean serves on the marine science faculty at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, and he’s also the director of Allied Whale, the college’s marine mammal research program. Mount Desert Rock, more… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite #21 – Sean Todd, Mount Desert Rock, Maine

Matthew Cohen is a nautical photographer with more than 20 years of experience. Matthew acquired his love of boating as a child and raced with the successful Roger Williams University Varsity Team. Following that, he became an accomplished sailing instructor for 15 years at the Sail Newport Sailing Center, and he’s logged over 30,000 ocean… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 316 – Rhode Island nautical photographer Matthew Cohen

This edition of Light Hearted Lite features several edited interviews that were originally heard in two episodes back in the spring of 2020. The subject is the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s popular lighthouse passport program. The program provides enthusiasts the opportunity to help preserve lighthouses, and a great way for them to keep a pictorial history… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite #20 – USLHS’s Lighthouse Passport Program

Stratford, Connecticut, was an active port in coastal trade, shipbuilding and oystering in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To mark the entrance to the harbor, the first Stratford Point Lighthouse was built on the west side of the dangerous mouth of the Housatonic River in 1822. The present tower, 35 feet tall, was built along… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 315 – Town Historian David Wright, Stratford, CT

This episode has two segments. First is a new interview with Mayor Frank Picozzi of Warwick, Rhode Island, about the recent exterior restoration of Conimicut Lighthouse, which is owned by the city. The major project at the 1883 cast-iron caisson “sparkplug style” tower was carried out in 2024 by Abcore Restoration. Next is an abridged… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite #19 – A Tale of Two Sparkplugs: Conimicut and Sakonnet, RI

Prudence Island, about seven miles long, is the third largest island in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. It was determined around 1850 that a lighthouse was needed to guide vessels passing between Sandy Point, at the island’s easternmost extremity, and Aquidneck Island, about a mile to the east. Instead of building a new lighthouse, a disused… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 314 – Joe Bains and Ray Jenness, Prudence Island, RI

There are three segments in this episode. The first recaps a recent virtual conference that the USLHS held in late March. The conference celebrated the 25th anniversary of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, with presenters and attendees sharing their stories of lighthouse stewardship and preservation. Next is an abridged version of a… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 313 – Thomas Point Shoal, MD, and “Drew’s Grand Adventure”; NHLPA conference recap