Hilton Head Island, part of South Carolina’s Lowcountry region, is widely known for its twelve miles of pristine beaches and its golf courses. The Hilton Head Rear Range Lighthouse overlooks the award-winning Arthur Hills Golf Course at the Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort. The range light station was decommissioned in 1932. In the mid-1980s, the lighthouse… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 80 – Hilton Head Rear Range Light, South Carolina; Photo tips with Mike Leonard

With its long coastline and about 790 islands, Scotland has been home to a large number of lighthouses. The Northern Lighthouse Board, founded in 1786, currently operates and maintains 206 lighthouses across Scotland and the Isle of Man. Automation of lighthouses began in Scotland as early as 1894, when the Oxcars Light in the River… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 79 – Ian Duff, Scottish lighthouse keeper

The U.S. Lighthouse Service constructed the Staten Island Lighthouse Depot on the former site of the New York Marine Hospital. The depot, which began operation in 1864, was the key manufacturing, storage, supply, and maintenance center for the Lighthouse Service’s Third District. Activity at the depot included experimentation on lamps, illuminants, and Fresnel lenses. Under… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 78 – Linda Dianto, National Lighthouse Museum, NY

Split Rock Lighthouse, one of the most picturesque lighthouses in the United States, is located on a 127-foot-high cliff on the northwest shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. By the late 1960s, the Coast Guard deemed the lighthouse obsolete and it was discontinued as an official aid. Today the light station is the centerpiece of… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 77 – Lee Radzak and Hayes Scriven; Split Rock Light Station, Minnesota

The Aleutian Islands are a chain of 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller islands that form a dividing line between the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Scotch Cap Lighthouse was established at the southwest corner of Unimak Island, the largest of the Aleutians, in 1903. It was… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 76 – Peter Kaufman discusses the Scotch Cap, Alaska, disaster

Toledo Harbor Lighthouse was established in 1904 in the western end of Lake Erie, marking the entrance to the Toledo Shipping Channel and the approach to the Port of Toledo on the Maumee River. The buff-colored brick tower has a steel framework, and the total height of the lighthouse is 85 feet. There’s also an… Continue reading Light Hearted ep 75 – Sandy Bihn, Toledo Harbor Lighthouse Preservation Society, Ohio

On this date in 1789, the first Congress approved an act for the establishment of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers. Two hundred years later, Congress passed an act that designated August 7, 1989, as National Lighthouse Day. This day is observed at many lighthouses, although Congress has not designated National Lighthouse Day in perpetuity.… Continue reading Light Hearted special edition – National Lighthouse Day 2020