Episode 11 – Host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews John Geurtsen, vice commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 11-1, which serves the Cape Cod area. John is involved with the public tours of Chatham Lighthouse. Jeremy and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw cover the early history of the first lighthouse on the North American continent, Boston Light, in a history segment.
Episode 12 – Jeremy D’Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw host the second of three “Cape Cod Week” episodes. Jeremy interviews Betsy Richards, president of the Nauset Light Preservation Society, and Hawkins Conrad, who was the group’s first president in its formative days in the 1990s. Michelle and Jeremy discuss more of the early history of the oldest lighthouse on the North American continent, Boston Light in Boston Harbor, including the 1719 fog cannon.
Episode 13 – Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Gary Childs, chairman of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The chapter manages three lighthouses in Provincetown at the tip of the Cape. The focus of the interview is Race Point Light Station, which is open for overnight stays. Jeremy and Michelle Jewell Shaw discuss the various kinds of illuminants and apparatus that were used in the early days of lighthouses.
Episode 14 –Florida’s St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum has a mission to “discover, preserve, present, and keep alive the stories of the nation’s oldest port.” Rick Cain is Director of Museum Services, and Jay Smith is Office Manager and Executive and Governance Support Manager. Jeremy D’Entremont interviewed Rick and Jay for this episode. In the history segment, Jeremy and co-host Cindy Johnson discuss Winslow Lewis and his monopoly on American lighthouse lighting equipment from 1810 into the 1840s.
Episode 15 – At 175 feet tall, Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Florida and the third tallest in the United States. It became a national historic landmark in 1998. John Mann is the lead docent for on-site tours and community outreach, and educational programs advisor for the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. Felipe De Paula is the registrar and assistant curator. Jeremy D’Entremont interviewed them for this episode. In a history segment, co-host Cindy Johnson and Jeremy discuss Augustin Fresnel, the French civil engineer and physicist who is best remembered for the invention in the 1820s of a type of lens that increased the visibility of lighthouses and saved countless lives.
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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