Light Hearted

Sally Snowman in her early days in the Coast Guard Auxilary next to the second-order Fresnel lens at Boston Light. Photo by Jay Thomson. In part two of Jeremy D’Entremont’s two-part interview with Sally Snowman, keeper of Boston Light Station on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor, Sally discusses Sammy the Boston Light Dog, subject of a children’s book that Sally wrote. Sall...

Sally Snowman (U.S. Postal Service photo by Dan Afzal) In 1989, the U.S. Coast Guard was planning for Boston Light on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor to be the last light station in the United States to be automated and destaffed. Instead, Congress mandated that the station be operated and staffed permanently by the Coast Guard. In 2003, the active duty Coast Guard personnel that had been...

Point San Luis Lighthouse; photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Jack San Filippo In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Jack San Filippo, program manager for the Point San Luis Lighthouse on the central California coast. The Point San Luis Lighthouse Keepers, a dedicated group of preservationists established in 1995, have brought the building back to life as one of the prettiest l...

Burnt Coat Harbor Light Station, photo by Jeremy D’Entremont In this episode host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Eric and Fran Chetwynd of the Swans Island Lighthouse Committee in Maine about the restoration of the 1872 Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse . The still-active automated light is still maintained by Coast Guard aids to navigation personnel, while the light station became the prope...

Eric Jay Dolin This episode is hosted by Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson, and the featured interview is the award-winning maritime historian Eric Jay Dolin. Eric has written thirteen books and more than 60 articles on American history. His books include Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America , which won a number of awards and was selected as one of the best nonfiction books of 200...

Terry Rowden (photo by Jeremy D’Entremont) The featured interview in this episode is Terry Rowden, a native of Michigan. Bob Trapani, Jr., executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation, joined Light Hearted host Jeremy D’Entremont to take part in this interview, which was recorded inside the keeper’s house at Little River Light Station. Terry Rowden served as a keeper...

Tom Tag (left) accepting a Holland Award from American Lighthouse Council president Don Terras in 2011. The award is named for the historian Francis Ross Holland, Jr., who received the initial Distinguished Service Award that was to henceforth carry his name. The featured interview in this episode is with Tom Tag, who is the technical advisor for the U.S. Lighthouse Society. Tom’s passion fo...

Chris Mills In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Canadian author and former lighthouse keeper Chris Mills. Chris is originally from Ontario, but he has lived most of his life in Nova Scotia. He built his first lighthouse when he was six years old, and landed his first three-week job as a relief assistant on Cross Island, near Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, at the age of 24. Between 1...

Mark Kuehn Join Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson for an interview with Mark Kuehn of the North Point Lighthouse Museum in Wisconsin. North Point Lighthouse is in Lake Park on the East Side of Milwaukee. The lighthouse and the Queen Anne-style keeper’s house have been restored to their early twentieth century charm through the determined efforts of a group of volunteers, the North...

Ford Reiche at Halfway Rock. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Join hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw for an interview with Ford Reiche, the award-winning owner of remote Halfway Rock Lighthouse i n Casco Bay in Maine. Ford Reiche has been an attorney and an entrepreneur; in 2008 he was named the Maine Small Businessperson of the Year and the Mainebiz Business Leader of the...

Chad Kaiser Join hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson. First up is part two of an interview with Chad Kaiser, general manager of the New Dungeness Light Station in Sequim, Washington. Chad is also a lighthouse preservationist and one of only a handful of qualified lampists in the country who are approved by the U.S. Coast Guard to work on historic Fresnel lighthouses lenses. It’s Chad’...

Russ Rowlett (Univ. of North Carolina) Host Jeremy D’Entremont is joined by co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw. When Russ Rowlett was growing up in Richmond, Virginia, his only exposure to lighthouses was climbing the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse when his family vacationed at Virginia Beach. Russ started his web site, The Lighthouse Directory, in 1999, and it kept growing until, by 2009, it covered t...

The Nantucket Lightship LV112 was offshore during the August 7, 1989, celebration at Maine’s Portland Head Lighthouse. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. This is a special edition of Light Hearted in honor of National Lighthouse Day, August 7. It was on this date in 1789 that the first Congress approved an act for the establishment and support of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers...

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo at the Cushing’s Point Museum The city of South Portland, with a bit over 25,000 people, is the fourth-largest city in Maine. It is situated on Portland Harbor and looks out onto the islands of Casco Bay. South Portland is home to two lighthouses and is close to several others. The Cushing’s Point Museum, adjacent to Bug Light Park, the location of Portland Breakwater...

Aerial view of Nubble Lighthouse; photo by Jeremy D’Entremont The U.S. Lighthouse Society’s domestic and international group tours are developed to maximize lighthouse touring, but also to help provide better understanding of the culture and communities in which the lighthouses are located. The proceeds from each trip are directed to supporting the society’s mission of lighthouse prese...

Josh Liller at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Museum In the third and final episode for “Florida Week,” Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Josh Liller, Historian and Collections Manager for the Loxahatchee River Historical Society and Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum . Josh gives numerous presentations related to local history in the Jupiter area throughout the year. Jupiter Inlet...

John Mann and Felipe De Paula at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Museum Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont Join hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson for the second of three “Florida Week” episodes. At 175 feet tall, Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in the state and the third tallest in the United States. It became a national historic landma...

The view from St. Augustine Lighthouse. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Join hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson for the first of three episodes for Florida Week! In 1824, the first lighthouse in Florida was built at St. Augustine, at the site of an earlier watchtower. Today’s 165-foot-tall brick tower, built in 1874, is a major attraction on Florida’s east coast. The S...

Race Point Light Station, photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Jeremy D’Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw co-host the third and final episode for Cape Cod week. Jeremy interviews Gary Childs, chairman of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The chapter manages three lighthouses in Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape. The focus of the interview is Race Point Light Stati...

Nauset Lighthouse in Eastham, Massachusetts. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont Join host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw for the second of three “Cape Cod Week” episodes. Jeremy interviews Betsy Richards, president of the Nauset Light Preservation Society, and Hawkins Conrad, who was the group’s first president in its formative days in the 1990s. Early i...

John Geurtsen in the lantern room at Chatham Light It’s Cape Cod Week on Light Hearted! In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews John Geurtsen, vice commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 11-1, which serves the Cape Cod area. John is involved with the public tours of Chatham Lighthouse, and that is what he discussed with Jeremy. Jeremy and co-host Michelle Jewe...

Straitsmouth Island Lighthouse with the twin towers of Thacher Island in the background; photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Paul St. Germain In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Paul St. Germain, author/historian and president of the nonprofit Thacher Island Association, about recent progress at Straitsmouth Island Light Station off Rockport on Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Tremend...

Bakers Island Lighthouse, Salem, Massachusetts. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Annie C. Harris, director of Essex Heritage. The non-profit organization promotes the cultural heritage of Essex County, Massachusetts, and owns the Bakers Island Light Station in Salem. The station consists of an 1820 lighthouse tower, two keepers’ houses, and outbuildings....

Larissa and Casey, innkeepers at Braddock Point Lighthouse In the latest episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw discuss the first tower on the Eddystone Rocks off Plymouth, England, designed by the colorful showman Henry Winstanley and completed in 1698. Winstanley’s tower after 1699 modifications The feature interview is with Casey Moulton of the Braddock Po...

Nick Korstad Jeremy D’Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw come to you from the Portsmouth Public Library. The feature interview is with Nick Korstad, owner of the Big Bay Point Lighthouse B&B in Michigan. Prior to purchasing Big Bay Point Lighthouse, Nick bought and restored Borden Flats Lighthouse in Fall River, Massachusetts, a project for which he was featured on several national TV sh...