This episode consists of audio from the first live streaming edition of our podcast, broadcast live on YouTube on February 26, 2026. The complete video of the live stream can be seen on our YouTube channel. The guests are Colby Thomas and Billy Simmons, who are historic interpreters at Old Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia – the first lighthouse commissioned by the federal government.
There are two lighthouses at Cape Henry, marking the south side of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. The older of the two lighthouses was built in 1792, and the sandstone tower stands 92 feet tall. The 1792 lighthouse eventually developed some cracks and a new, taller lighthouse was built in 1881. Since 1930, the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse has been owned and operated by Preservation Virginia. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964, and in 2002 the American Society of Civil Engineers designated it lighthouse a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
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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