Episode 116 – Pater Noster Lighthouse, off the west coast of Sweden, is operated as a small hotel. The lighthouse hotel has formed a partnership with the Göteborg Film Festival. Because of COVID restrictions, this year’s 11-day festival was held digitally, with about 70 films and premiere screenings every night. This year the festival organizer’s created an “Isolated Cinema” event. A winner was selected to spend a week watching film premieres on the isolated island. The contest winner, Lisa Enroth, is interviewed in this episode. Also interviewed is Jonas Holmberg, artistic director of the Gothenberg Film Festival.
Episode 117 – The lighthouse at Sumburgh Head, established in 1821, is the oldest lighthouse in the Shetland Islands, a part of Scotland. The station was automated in 1991 and the former keepers’ houses and the other buildings except for the lighthouse tower are now owned by the Shetland Amenity Trust. The Trust has renovated and restored the buildings to create a world-class visitor attraction. Brian Johnson was a keeper at Sumburgh Head in 1969, and he later became a mechanical technician. Jane Outram is the site supervisor.
Special Emergency Edition – The light station on East Brother Island in Richmond, California, was established in 1874 . It’s now operated by East Brother Light Station, Inc. The property has been restored and opened for overnight guests. In early April, a 30-year-old, 2000-foot-long underwater power cable, installed and owned by the Coast Guard, failed. A permanent fix to the cable will be very expensive. Funds are desperately needed so the light station won’t fall into disrepair, and so it can reopen for overnight stays. Host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson interviewed Desiree Heveroh of East Brother Light Station, Inc., about the current situation.
Episode 118 – The Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, or ARLHS, was formed in 2000. The ARLHS is devoted to maritime communications, amateur radio, lighthouses, and lightships. Its members travel to lighthouses around the world where they operate amateur radio equipment at or near the light stations. John Huggins is an electrical engineer living in Virginia. He became the president of the ARLHS in 2016. Dan Romanchik has been an electronics engineer, a software developer, an engineering manager, a writer/blogger/editor, a teacher/trainer, and a website developer. He’s been involved with the ARLHS in recent years.
Special edition – Dianna Stampfler has been researching Michigan’s lighthouses for more than 10 years. In 2019, she published her book Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses through the History Press. Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state, with more than 120 dotting its expansive Great Lakes shoreline. Many of these lighthouses lay claim to haunted happenings. Also interviewed is Nick Korstad, owner of Big Bay Point Lighthouse stands on a high bluff on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, about 24 miles northwest of Marquette on Lake Superior. Nick talks about an unusual experience at Big Bay Point Lighthouse and also strange happenings at Borden Flats Lighthouse in Massachusetts.
Episode 119 –Located at the eastern tip of Long Island, Montauk Point Light is the oldest lighthouse in New York and the fourth oldest active lighthouse in the country. In 1996, ownership of the light station buildings was transferred to the Montauk Historical Society. Mia Certic is executive director of the Montauk Historical Society, and Henry Osmers is the official historian for the lighthouse, and he’s written four books about Montauk history.
Episode 120 –The Old Baldy Foundation is a nonprofit organization established for the preservation of North Carolina’s Bald Head Lighthouse, best known as Old Baldy. Abby Overton has been the development and communications coordinator for the Old Baldy Foundation since 2017. Old Baldy Foundation educator and historian Hunter Ingram is a devoted storyteller and lifelong lover of history who is excited about sharing the centuries of stories that define Old Baldy and Bald Head Island.
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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