Bob Napolitano is from Everett, Massachusetts, and now lives in Londonderry, New Hampshire. “The Lighthouse Keeper,” which was published last year, is his seventh book. The main character, John Russell, takes a job as the keeper of the Willamette River Lighthouse in Oregon at the age of 27 in 1923. He sees the lighthouse as… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 336 – Author Bob Napololitano and “The Lighthouse Keeper”

In this episode we revisit an interview that was first heard in 2021. Our guest is Jen Lewis, Fundraising and Outreach Manager for the Point Cabrillo Light Station in northern California. Point Cabrillo is about midway between San Francisco and the border with Oregon. In 1908 a combined lighthouse and fog signal building was built… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite 38 – Jen Lewis, Point Cabrillo, CA

There are two guests in this episode. The first, Bjorn Karlstrom, splits his time between Florida in the and the beautiful island of Gotland in Sweden. After developing a substantial lighthouse-related library, he decided to start a website that might be useful to others looking for information. His site Lighthouse Reading, at lhreading.com, now has… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 335 – Bjorn Karlstrom and “Lighthouse Reading”; Kevin Arsenault, Coast Guard light keeper in Maine

Pater Noster is a small archipelago off the west coast of Sweden. The island group’s name, which means “The Lord’s Prayer,” is said to come from the tradition that mariners would recite the Lord’s Prayer as they negotiated their way around the dangerous reefs in the vicinity. The 105-foot-tall, red, cast-iron lighthouse was constructed in… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite 37 – Erik Nissen Johansen, Pater Noster, Sweden

Fairport Harbor, on the south side of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Grand River, is considered part of the Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area. The first lighthouse in the harbor was a 56-foot brick tower built in 1825. The lighthouse that stands today is a 60-foot stone tower that began service in 1871. After… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 334 – Marty O’Gara and John Ollila, Fairport Harbor, OH

Today we look back at an interview that was first heard in October 2020. Our guest is Bob Mannino, founder and president of the United States Lightship Museum. The USLM is the steward of the Nantucket Lightship LV-112, the largest lightship ever built in the United States. The Nantucket South Shoals were a great hazard… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite 36 – Bob Mannino, Nantucket Lightship LV-112

Ile Vierge is a 15-acre island off the northwest coast of Brittany in northwest France. The first lighthouse on the island was a 108-foot-tall square tower that began service in 1845. It was considered too short, and a new tower was built between 1896 and 1902. The new lighthouse tower is built of granite blocks… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 333 – Valeria Araúz Molina, Île Vierge, France

In this episode we revisit a conversation from June 2022 with Mike Vogel, who at that time was the president of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. Mike Vogel retired as editorial page editor of The Buffalo News in 2011, after a 43-year journalism career. He was the organizer and founding president of the Buffalo Lighthouse Association,… Continue reading Light Hearted Lite #35: Lighthouse preservationist Mike Vogel

Jim Lammers, who lives in Minnesota, was educated as an architect back when freehand sketching was an integral part of the curriculum. His writing and sketching has been published in a number of professional journals and on websites. His most recent book is “Lighthouses of the Great Lakes: An Architect’s Sketchbook.” The illustrations in Jim’s… Continue reading Light Hearted ep. 332 – Sketch artist Jim Lammers