Captain Joshua Card here at Portsmouth Harbor Light Station, New Hampshire. Sometimes a lighthouse doesn’t look like a lighthouse, but it can still serve an important purpose. The Elm Tree Light in New York is one such structure. The abandoned, nondescript concrete tower that now stands near an old airplane hangar at Miller Field on… Continue reading Kaptain’s Kolumn #26

Captain Joshua K. Card here, at Portsmouth Harbor Light, New Hampshire. I’m thankful to have had a long career at a mainland light station in a beautiful little town — my home town of New Castle. I never served at an offshore caisson light, and I don’t envy those who did. I think the round… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #25

Captain Joshua K. Card here, at Portsmouth Harbor Light near the mouth of the Piscataqua River in my home town of New Castle, New Hampshire. Today I want to tell you about Flora McNeil, a fascinating woman who had a career as a light keeper, businesswoman, and artist down in Connecticut. Bridgeport, the most populous… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #24

Captain Joshua Card here at Portsmouth Harbor Light Station, New Hampshire. Today I’d like to tell you about another contemporary of mine, Keeper Jacob Ackerman over at the Tarrytown Light on the Hudson River in New York. Tarrytown is about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan. In 1881, George Brown, inspector the Third Lighthouse District,… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #23

Captain Joshua K. Card reporting from Portsmouth Harbor Light in New Hampshire. Unseasonably warm here lately for early fall, but I’m not complaining. My station, by and large, is rather peaceful and quiet, being in sheltered waters a mile inside the mouth of the Piscataqua River. I spent my first few years in the Lighthouse… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #21

Captain Joshua K. Card here at Portsmouth Harbor Light, near the mouth of the mighty Piscataqua River. The local summer people have all left, but the weather has been beautiful lately. Today I want to tell you about a woman lighthouse keeper on the west coast who was a contemporary of mine. I never met… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #20

Captain Joshua K. Card here, over at the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in New Castle, New Hampshire. Summer’s nearly over and many of the local summer residents will be leaving with the Labor Day holiday this weekend. Some will stop by for a visit to the lighthouse before they go. I’ll put on my Lighthouse Service… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #19

Captain Joshua Kenney Card reporting from Light Station Portsmouth Harbor here on the New Hampshire Seacoast, shortest seacoast of any state that has a seacoast. But as seacoasts go, it’s choice. Today I’m going to tell you about some of the keepers down at Long Island Head Light in Boston Harbor. It’s not as well… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #18

Captain Joshua Card here, up at Station Portsmouth Harbor in New Hampshire. Full blown summer has arrived, hot and humid and thick a fog some days. I’ve had to wind the striker for the fog bell quite a few times lately. I want to tell you about a keeper down on Long Island Sound, Captain… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #17

Captain Joshua Card here, at Portsmouth Harbor Light Station, New Hampshire. I want to tell you about a sad but fascinating story from down Connecticut way. It’s really a two-part story. Greens Ledge is one of several treacherous formations near Norwalk Harbor in western Long Island Sound. A lighthouse was constructed in 1902 to help… Continue reading The Kaptain’s Kolumn #16