The Cape Cod Maritime Museum in Hyannis, Massachusetts, focuses on Cape Cod’s rich maritime history, along with boat building, yachting, and nautical art. The museum strives to enable audiences of all ages to understand and enjoy maritime culture through exhibitions, public events, and educational programs. Exhibits focus on the cod fishing industry and whaling, the history of navigation, the shellfish of Cape Cod, and more. There’s also an extensive scrimshaw collection and historic Cape Cod wooden boats.

There’s a lecture series and other offerings including a Young Mariners summer program for kids and a boatbuilding program. The museum is developing a new exhibit on lighthouses that opens on October 20. Emily Sullivan, the museum’s curator, is interviewed in this episode.

The lighthouse at Verona Beach in New York was one of three built on Oneida Lake to aid navigation in conjunction with the opening of the Barge Canal as part of the Erie Canal system in 1918. In 1920, New York State created its own department for managing navigational aids, including a program for hiring lighthouse keepers. New York is the only state to ever maintain its own aids to navigation department.

The Verona Beach Lighthouse Association was formed in 2002 to save the lighthouse, which had become a popular site for dumping trash. More than 150 truckloads of debris were removed and the windows and entry door were replaced. As part of their “Reimagine the Canal Program,” the New York Power Authority and Canal Corporation had Verona Beach Lighthouse renovated and illuminated with LED lighting in 2021. Terri Knight is a founder and longtime volunteer for the Verona Beach Lighthouse Association, and Bruce Woodward has served as the group’s treasurer.

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