Lake Sunapee covers more than 4,000 acres in west-central New Hampshire, adjacent to Mount Sunapee State Park. The lake contains 11 islands and three lighthouses, which were built in the late 1800s during the steamboat era on the lake. A number of large resort hotels and private estates lined the lake’s shores in that era. Today, the three lighthouses are maintained by the Lake Sunapee Protective Association, or LSPA. The organization, founded in 1898, is dedicated to preserving and enhancing the environmental integrity of the Lake Sunapee Region.
Our guest, Midge Eliassen, is a past president of the LSPA. She’s been a photojournalist and she continues to capture the beauty of Lake Sunapee and its wildlife in her photography. Her extensive water sampling on the lake has been praised by Dartmouth College and others, and the LSPA awards a fellowship for lake research in Midge’s name. Midge was the recipient of the 2018 John F. Morten Award for Exemplary Lake Stewardship.
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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