In January 2024, two powerful storms — just three days apart — struck northern New England, coinciding with the highest tide ever recorded in Portland, Maine, at 14.75 feet. The damage was severe up and down the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, and about a third of Maine’s 66 historic lighthouse sites suffered significant damage.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
The nonprofit American Lighthouse Foundation has formed a Storm and Mitigation Response Team that is dedicated to the development of a series of best practices that can help lighthouses become more resilient in the face of future storms. Today’s conversation is with three members of the team. Bob Trapani Jr. is the executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Ford Reiche is the president of the Presumscot Foundation, which owns Halfway Rock Lighthouse in Maine’s Casco Bay. David Pomerantz has a background that includes climate resilience and emergency management.
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U.S. Lighthouse Society Historian Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of 24 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is a past president of 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’s weekly podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org