In 1990, Goat Island Light Station, at the entrance to Cape Porpoise Harbor in southern Maine, became one of the last light stations in the country to be automated and destaffed. After automation, the island became the property of the nonprofit Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. A project to rebuild the station’s fog bell tower and the… Continue reading Light Hearted 210 – Goat Island, Maine, part 2 of 2

Cape Porpoise is a small coastal village in the town of Kennebunkport, Maine. More than a dozen islands protect the deep, sheltered harbor at Cape Porpoise, and it grew into a busy center for fishing and lobstering. Goat Island Light Station was established in 1833 to help guide mariners into the harbor. A 20-foot stone… Continue reading Light Hearted 209 – Goat Island, Maine, part 1 of 2

The Florida reef lights date back to 1852 when Carysfort Reef Lighthouse was completed under the direction of Lt. George Meade of the Army Corps of Engineers. Sombrero Key Lighthouse was built a few years later, and then Alligator Reef was built as the third of the reef lights in 1873. Alligator Reef Lighthouse is… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 208 – Rob Dixon and Larry Herlth, Alligator Reef, Florida

Point Cabrillo is in Northern California, about midway between San Francisco and the border with Oregon. In 1908 an octagonal lighthouse tower was built with an integral fog signal building in an attractive building that’s built of local redwood and Douglas fir. Three dwellings were also erected for the keepers and their families. The lantern… Continue reading Light Hearted special edition – Jen Lewis, storm damage at Point Cabrillo, California

From December 21 through 26, 2022, an historic extratropical bomb cyclone brought blizzard conditions and winter storms to much of Canada and the United States, killing at least 71 people and cancelling or delaying more than 10,000 flights during the busy Christmas travel season. The storm was unofficially named Winter Storm Elliott by The Weather… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 207 – Lighthouse damage in recent storms

Bakers Island Light Station is off the coast of Salem, Massachusetts, a few miles north of Boston. The station was established in 1798 and the lighthouse tower that stands today was built in 1820. The 10-acre site is owned by the Essex National Heritage Commission, also known as Essex Heritage, a non-profit organization that manages… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 206 – Tara and Brian Flanagan, Bakers Island, MA

Borden Flats Lighthouse was built in 1881 on a dangerous reef to help guide increased shipping traffic as the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, became an important center for textile manufacturing. In fact, the city grew to become the largest textile producing center in the United States during the 1800s, with over 100 mills in… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 205 – Nick Korstad and Kevin Ferias, Borden Flats, MA, pt 2 of 2

The city of Fall River, Massachusetts, situated where the Taunton River flows into Mount Hope Bay, was famed as the “Textile Capital of the World” in the nineteenth century. A lighthouse was established on Borden Flats at the mouth of the Taunton River in 1881. It took the form of a cast-iron tower on a… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 204 – Nick Korstad and Kevin Ferias, Borden Flats, MA, pt 1 of 2

The guests in this episode are the hosts of their own highly successful podcasts. Emma Choi is a comic and writer and host of the weekly short-form comedy National Public Radio podcast Everyone & Their Mom. In 2021, Emma joined the NPR program Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me! as an intern. She worked with the Wait Wait team to create… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 203 – Podcasters Emma Choi and Kylie Low

According to an old Native American legend, there was a giant devil who caused much mayhem in a region that included parts of what is now Westchester County and the Bronx, New York, and portions of southeastern Connecticut. The giant was chased from the area by warriors, but he threw huge rocks at them across… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 202 – Bob Muller and Bob Lincoln: Stepping Stones, New York