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Lighthouse News of the Week

News of the week November 11, 2022

Pigeon Point (CA) Maritime landmark looms large on Coastside

For 150 years, ships at sea have identified Pigeon Point Lighthouse by flashes of light spaced 10 seconds apart.

Pigeon Point lighthouse, photo by Julie Barrow

“It’s what’s called the flash characteristic, or address, of Pigeon Point Lighthouse,” said Julie Barrow, special projects coordinator at Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park.

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Land ho! New art installation brings a lighthouse to Troy Hill (PA)

Sailors in the Pittsburgh area can breathe easy, as a newly installed lighthouse in Troy Hill will help to ensure no ships crash upon rocks during a foggy day.

The idea of building something several millennia in preparation for when it will actually be used is one of the central themes of a new art installation called “Darkhouse Lighthouse,” located at 1913 Tours St. in Troy Hill.

Darkhouse lighthouse lens photo by Lauren Stauffer

As the name implies, the exhibit does indeed feature a full-sized lighthouse, with a working, rotating light beacon on top, and a well-furnished room for future lighthouse keepers to stay in. However, despite what some may think, spotting the lighthouse is currently pretty difficult.

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Positively NJ: Meet Buddy Grover, a 95-year-old volunteer Absecon Lighthouse (NJ) keeper

If you climb the 260 steps to the top of the Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City, you’ll be rewarded not only a spectacular view of the city, the Atlantic Ocean and Absecon Inlet. You also might get a chance to meet a true beacon of inspiration: Buddy Grover.

Absecon Lighthouse, photo by J. Candace Clifford

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Shoring up the Harbor of Refuge (DE) lighthouse

For nearly a century, the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse off Cape Henlopen, Del., has stood as a sentry for fishing boats, commercial vessels and recreational sailors.

Harbor of Refuge lighthouse, photo courtesy US Lighthouse Society archives

The current version of the lighthouse was built in 1926 at the southern end of the stone Harbor of Refuge Breakwater at the mouth of the Delaware Bay where it opens into the Atlantic Ocean.

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Century-old bottles found in trash pit to be displayed at San Luis Obispo (CA) County lighthouse

Nearly 100 glass bottles discarded as trash about a century ago will now be displayed as treasured artifacts at a San Luis Obispo County lighthouse.

San Luis Obispo lighthouse, photo US Lighthouse Society archives

The bottles offer a window into life at Point San Luis Lighthouse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to lighthouse docent Kathy Mastako.

“There was life going on here,” Mastako said. “People lived here, people worked here, people raised their children here.”

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History on Tap: the Ashtabula (OH) lighthouse

Nov. 10—ASHTABULA — The Ashtabula lighthouse will be the subject of the Ashtabula Maritime and Surface Transportation Museum’s next History on Tap.

The program will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 15 at Cloven Hoof Brewery. Admission is free and doors open at 5 p.m.

Ashtabula lighthouse, US Lighthouse Society archives

“This month’s program should be really interesting,” said Jenny Luhta, vice chair of the museum board. “We have two individuals who will literally enlighten the audience with information and stories about our own Ashtabula lighthouse.”

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Split Rock’s (MN) beacon will shine to mark Edmund Fitzgerald anniversary

A major winter storm is heading for Minnesota’s North Shore today — Thursday, Nov. 10 — with gale warnings up for western Lake Superior and waves reaching as high as 12 feet.

Split Rock lighthouse, photo by Tony Webster wikimediacommons

It’s just the kind of weather the iron ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sailed through out of the Twin Ports as it headed for its tragic end, 47 years ago on Nov. 10, 1975.

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St. Clement’s Island Museum and Piney Point (MD) Lighthouse Museum to Join Sites Nationwide in “Bells of Peace” Bell-Tolling in Remembrance of World War I Armistice

LEONARDTOWN, MD – The bells at St. Clement’s Island Museum and Piney Point Lighthouse Museum, two historic sites overseen by the St. Mary’s County Museum Division, will toll on Nov. 11, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. to honor the 116,516 Americans, including the 27 St. Mary’s County natives, who died in World War I.

Piney Point lighthouse, photo by J. Candace Clifford

The program, BELLS OF PEACE: A WORLD WAR ONE REMEMBRANCE, began in 2018 to commemorate the Centennial of World War I; it is a collaborative program announced by the World War One Centennial Commission in coordination with the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, the Society of the Honor Guard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, whereby American citizens and organizations across the entire country are invited to toll bells in their communities twenty-one times on Nov. 11, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. local time.

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Friends of Seacow Head Lighthouse (Prince Edward Island, Canada) celebrate as Shipwreck Point group still waits

The Friends of Seacow Head Lighthouse are finally the proud owners of the structure they say is a beacon for their community. 

Seacow Head lighthouse, photo by Dennis Jarvis wikimediacommons

They officially received the keys from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on Sept. 15, after more than 10 years of volunteer efforts.

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Winner of the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s Instagram #artchallange – midwest division

Grosse Point lighthouse painted by Elaine Marie

The winning entry – Grosse Point Lighthouse by Elaine “Voices of Lighthouses” Marie. Congrats on a great painting, and your win!

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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

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