Light Hearted

Benn Trask has more than twenty years of teaching experience, mostly as a middle-school history teacher. He holds an undergraduate degree in education and a master’s degree in history, both from Virginia Tech. Following Virginia Tech, he served as a communications officer in the Marine Corps. In 1987, he returned to graduate school, earning a master’s degree in library science from the University...

Courage Like Kate: The True Story of a Girl Lighthouse Keeper is a new children’s picture book biography based on the life of Kate Moore, a lighthouse keeper in the 19th century at Fayerweather Island in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The book is written by Anna Crowley Redding and beautifully illustrated by Emily Sutton. Anna Crowley Redding As an investigative TV reporter, Anna Crowley Redding receive...

South Foreland Lighthouse is located on the famous White Cliffs of Dover in southeastern England, overlooking the English Channel with a view to France on clear days. The cliff face, which reaches a height of 350 feet, is composed of white chalk accented by streaks of black flint. The dangers posed to shipping by the offshore obstacle known as Goodwin Sands led to the establishment of two lighthou...

Fantastic Atlantic Salmon fishing has long been a prime attraction at the mouth of the Salmon River in New York, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. In the early 1830s it was determined that the harbor at the mouth of the river could accommodate as many as 30 ships, and a lighthouse was established in 1838. The lighthouse was built with stone from a local quarry and took the form of a two-story ke...

July 30, 2022 A lighthouse was established at Stony Point at the eastern end of Lake Ontario in New York in 1838. One of the most notable things about the original lighthouse was its first keeper, Wiley Gilbert Nickles, who held the position for 30 years. Nickles had lost both his hands in an accident at the age of 19, but he performed his light keeping duties with the help of his wife and childre...

July 23, 2022 In 1890, the Lighthouse Board recommended a lighthouse at Forty Mile Point, on the northeast coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The primary reason for the light was so that as mariners traveled along the western part of Lake Huron between Mackinaw Point and the Saint Clair River, they would never be out of viewing range of a lighthouse. The name of Forty Mile Point stems from the f...

July 16, 2022 Plum Island, a nine-mile long barrier island off the northern coast of Massachusetts, was first connected to the mainland by bridge in 1806. Newburyport was an important port by the late 1700s. The approach to the harbor was dangerous, with a sand bar and shifting channels at the mouth of the Merrimack River, near the northern end of Plum Island. To aid shipping entering the river, i...

July 9, 2022 The development of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula, which juts about 60 miles north from the Upper Peninsula into Lake Superior, was based mostly on copper mining. Increased maritime traffic related to the copper industry led to the establishment of Eagle River Lighthouse on the northwest part of the peninsula in 1858. Local maritime traffic decreased and the lighthouse was deactivated...

July 2, 2022 Whitefish Point, near the eastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is a critical turning point for maritime traffic entering Lake Superior. The point marks the eastern end of a notorious 80-mile stretch of shoreline that’s known as Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast. Of 550 known major shipwrecks in the vicinity, at least 200 have been near Whitefish Point. Probably the most famous was...

Mike Vogel retired as editorial page editor of The Buffalo News in 2011, after a 41-year journalism career that included three decades as a reporter and feature writer. Mike was the organizer and founding president of the Buffalo Lighthouse Association , which began restoration of Buffalo, New York’s historic 1833 lighthouse in 1985. Mike’s work at the local level soon led to efforts for the natio...

There are two interviews related to Michigan lighthouses in this episode, plus a special “Be a Lighthouse” segment for Father’s Day, with co-host Sarah MacHugh interviewing her father about his company, Adaptive Design Hudson River. Old Mackinac Point Light Station, Michigan. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. The Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron an...

Sailors’ Snug Harbor is a collection of nineteenth-century buildings on the north shore of Staten Island in New York City.  It was founded as a retirement home for sailors using funds bequeathed by Captain Robert Richard Randall when he died in 1801. Sailors’ Snug Harbor opened in 1833 and expanded over the years to more than 50 buildings. It was said to be the richest charitable...

The city of Marquette, Michigan, is a major port on Lake Superior that’s known primarily for the shipping of iron ore. In the mid-1800s, Marquette’s railroad links to numerous mines made it the leading shipping port of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It also became a popular summer destination with steamships bringing passengers who filled the city’s hotels and resorts. Marquette Harbor Li...

Two interviews are featured in this episode, concerning Seul Choix Point Light Station in Michigan and Duluth South Breakwater Inner Light in Minnesota. Seul Choix Point Light Station, Michigan. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Located at the northwest corner of Lake Michigan, Seul Choix Bay got its name for the French phrase meaning “only choice.” The bay was a popular place of refuge for early...

With the 1825 completion of the Erie Canal, which linked the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, maritime traffic in the Great Lakes increased dramatically. As the canal was being completed, Congress appropriated funds for a light station near Fort Gratiot, in the southern portion of Michigan’s thumb. When the light station was established at Fort Gratiot in 1825, it was the fi...

Esopus Creek meets the Hudson River at the town of Saugerties, about seven miles north of Kingston and 101 miles north of New York City. The name Saugerties is derived from a Dutch phrase meaning “sawmill on a creek.” The creek eventually powered what has been described as the largest collection of water-powered machinery in the world. In June 1834, Congress recognized the need for a lighthouse at...

In 1857, a lighthouse was built at the tip of Lloyd’s Neck at the entrance to Lloyd Harbor, on the North Shore of Long Island, New York. Lloyd Harbor often served as a place of refuge for ships escaping rough conditions on Long Island Sound. The first structure, known as Lloyd Harbor Lighthouse, was considered inadequate. A new lighthouse to serve mariners entering Lloyd Harbor and adjoining Hunti...

The island known as Fisgard is a stone’s throw offshore at the west side of the entrance to British Columbia’s Esquimalt Harbor. The island was named for a British naval frigate, with the name’s origins reaching back to Fishguard, a coastal town in Wales. The British Royal Navy began using Esquimalt Harbor as a base for its operations in Pacific Canada in 1848. Fisgard Light Station. Photo b...

Gertjan De Boer at the Stavoren Lighthouse in Netherlands, close to where he grew up. Courtesy of Gertjan De Boer. The European country of the Netherlands conjures images of canals, fields of tulips, and windmills. But the country is also home to dozens of historic lighthouses, and some of them are major tourist attractions. Dutch lighthouse history reaches all the way back to the 14 th century. B...

Barry Hawkins worked as a lighthouse keeper for England’s Trinity House from 1978 to 1996. His assignments included some of the most remote and rugged light stations in the UK. He took advantage of his spare time at the lighthouses painting pictures of seascapes, wildlife, and other subjects. His first 18 months of service were spent as a supernumerary keeper at various lighthouses on the west coa...

Jan Guarino has been a graphic artist designing marketing materials for businesses for 45 years. She recently retired from graphic design to focus entirely on her painting and teaching career. The New York resident is now a full-time watercolor artist and teacher, sharing her knowledge in classes and workshops, and exhibiting in various galleries. She is a permanent artist at the Firefly Gallery i...

Conanicut Island, about 6,000 acres, is the second largest island in the state of Rhode Island. The town of Jamestown comprises the entire island, which is connected by bridges to North Kingstown and Newport. Beavertail Point, at the southern peninsula of the island, marks the entrances to both the east and west passages of busy Narragansett Bay. With foreign trade blossoming from Newport, local m...

David Appleby was a lighthouse keeper in England for 32 years. After he was hired by Trinity House in 1965 and trained at Harwich, he spent some time as a supernumerary keeper at various light stations. His first assignment as an assistant keeper was at isolated Eddystone, one of the most famous lighthouses in the world. Eddystone Lighthouse, England. USLHS photo. David Appleby Other stations wher...

The body of water known as Sabine Lake is actually a bay on the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas, about 90 miles east of Houston. Funds were first appropriated for a lighthouse at Sabine Pass, an outlet of the bay into the Gulf of Mexico, in 1849, but the project was shelved for a few years. It was first lighted in 1856. The appearance of the tower is unique, with eight buttresses supporting it n...