Fond du Lac Lighthouse (WI) to undergo maintenance starting Monday
Fond du Lac Lighthouse is located at the entrance to the harbor and Yacht Club in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, at the southern end of Lake Winnebago. The city of Fond du Lac’s parks department will make minor repairs to the lighthouse, beginning on Monday. During a recent inspection, it was discovered that some of the siding boards are beginning to deteriorate.
The boards will be replaced with similar materials which, according to the city, will not impact the historical significance of the structure. Each year, thousands of visitors to Lakeside Park climb the steps of the iconic lighthouse for a chance to enjoy the scenic vista of Lake Winnebago.
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Currituck Beach Lighthouse (NC) climbing season begins Saturday
Currituck Beach Lighthouse will open for the 2021 climbing season on Saturday, March 20. The lighthouse will be open daily through December 1st, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
U.S. Lighthouse Society photo by Ralph Eshelman.
Visitors may climb 220 stairs to the top for a breathtaking view of the Atlantic Ocean, Currituck Sound, and the Outer Banks while learning from docents and museum-quality exhibits about the still active aid to navigation, the local and national significance of the tower, shipwrecks, the lives of lighthouse keepers, and the original first-order Fresnel lens.
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Virtual Lecture on Women Lighthouse Keepers
On Monday 3/22 at 7 p.m. the Friends of Concord Point Lighthouse in Maryland will be hosting an online lecture with historian Mary Rasa. The topic is women lighthouse keepers.
Mary Rasa is a historian who worked as a museum curator and park ranger for the National Park Service for 16 years. She currently conducts historic programs as well as completing grants, research, and exhibit work as an independent contractor.
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Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse (CA) getting new foundation
The Trinidad Civic Club has applied for a grading permit to place the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse on a permanent foundation where it now sits on harbor property owned by the Trinidad Rancheria. The Memorial Lighthouse will remain at its approximate current location but will be raised about eight feet on compacted rock and a concrete foundation.
(Trinidad Civic Club)
The Memorial Lighthouse, built in 1949, is a replica of the 1871 working lighthouse on Trinidad Head. The replica houses the fourth-order Fresnel lens from the original lighthouse. The new site will also include a two-ton bronze fog bell from 1898, a historical anchor and two benches.
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The incredible story behind Cap de Formentor Lighthouse (Spain)
Cap de Formentor Lighthouse is perched on top of rugged cliffs, almost 700 feet above sea level at the northernmost point of Mallorca. It’s one of the most popular tourist destinations on the island, not least because the views are truly stunning.
Construction started in 1857 and the biggest problem for the builders was how to deliver all the necessary materials. In the end around two hundred workers were employed to build a path from Cala Murta to Cap de Formentor. But the animals couldn’t carry the massive stones that were needed for the project, so a huge winch was brought in to raise the stones up to a landing and it took 40 men to operate it.
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Blacksod Lighthouse (Ireland), the weather, and the D-Day landings
Facebook Videographer Ronan Kelly’s tour of Blacksod Lighthouse in County Mayo, Ireland, includes an interview with keeper Vincent Sweeney who reveals a special connection with the lighthouse, his mother and the D-Day landings.
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Working Online Overtime to Share Twin Lights (NJ) History
For six decades, the Twin Lights Historical Society thrived where other organizations sometimes struggled, drawing a steady stream of visitors with the spectacular panoramic vista from the Navesink Twin Lights, as well as a superb small museum and eclectic museum store. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020 and the state ordered the lighthouse to shut its doors, the Society found itself adrift, with no obvious way to remain relevant and engage new visitors.
(U.S. Lighthouse Society archives)
During the first few months of the pandemic, trustee Mark Stewart dug into the Society’s immense collection of nautical, lifesaving, and New Jersey cultural artifacts and began posting several images each week on Facebook. The Society then launched a daily Facebook series entitled “Twin Lights People,” which featured mini-bios of individuals with a connection to the lighthouse—often direct, yet just as often tenuous.
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U.S. Lighthouse Society News is produced by the U.S. Lighthouse Society to support lighthouse preservation, history, education and research.
If you have items of interest to the lighthouse community and its supporters, please email them to Jeremy D’Entremont 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