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 Tiffany Vance.
“Why wouldn’t you want to do it?” said Vance. “This feels a lot like home to me. I’m from Maine, the land of lighthouses.”
You can listen to an audio feature from KCBS radio here.
* * *
Robert Eggers’ new movie “The Lighthouse” premiering next month
The highly anticipated new horror film The Lighthouse, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, will premiere at the Directors Fortnight festival in May. The movie is director Robert Eggers’ followup to his acclaimed horror film The Witch. The Lighthouse was filmed in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in black and white on 35 mm film, and is said to be “based on old seafarer myths.”
You can read more about this story here.
* * *
Penfield Reef Lighthouse (CT) could become a columbarium
Penfield Reef Lighthouse, built in 1874, stands about a mile offshore from Penfield Beach in Fairfield, Connecticut, in western Long Island Sound. The lighthouse was sold at auction in 2016 to American Castles under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.
This past week, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted 118-26 to allow a creative adaptive reuse for the structure — for it to be used as a columbarium, a final resting place for urns containing cremated remains. The bill now goes to the state senate.
Click here for more on this story.
* * *
20th Anniversary Celebration of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (NC) Move Planned for July 1
National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac invites the public to a special event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse move on July 1, 2019. The free event will start at 9:30 a.m. near the lighthouse.
Click here for more on this story
* * *
U.S. and Okinawa officials attend annual Ie Shima Lighthouse Memorial Service in Japan
U.S. and Okinawa officials gathered to remember casualties of World War II and specifically a light house keeper and his family during the annual Ie Shima Lighthouse Memorial Service April 21, 2019 at Ie Shima on Okinawa, Japan.
During the Battle of Okinawa, a lighthouse keeper and eight of his family members were killed by an air raid. Wreaths were laid by U.S. and Okinawa officials, and by descendants of the late lighthouse keeper. Next year will mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa.
Click here for more on this story
* * *
The J. Candace Clifford Lighthouse Research Library is coming very soon. Watch for the details!
* * * * * *
U.S. Lighthouse Society News is produced by the U.S. Lighthouse Society to support lighthouse preservation, history, education and research. You can receive these posts via email if you click on the “SUBSCRIBE” button in the right-hand column. Please support this electronic newsletter by joining the U.S. Lighthouse Society if you are not already a member.
If you have items of interest to the lighthouse community and its supporters, please email them to Jeremy at jeremy@uslhs.org
Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org