Episodes

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 Point Lighthouse Friends, Inc., formed in 2002. Since completion of restoration in the fall of 2007, the...

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 in 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 Year. He is also a trustee of Maine Preservation. Ford has acquired and restored several buildings on the Natio...

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’s work as a lampist and preservationist that is discussed in today’s interview. In the history segment we...

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 the whole world. It’s one of the most useful lighthouse information sites on the Internet, and Russ is the...

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. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the signing of that act and the commissioning of the first federal...

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 Lighthouse, has been home to the South Portland Historical Society since 2009. Just down the street is Sp...

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 preservation and education. In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Chris Brookes, a volunteer tour plann...

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 Lighthouse Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse is in Jupiter, Florida, on Florida’s east coast. The 108-f...

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 landmark in 1998. John Mann is the Lead Docent for on-site tours and community outreach, and educational programs advisor for the...

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 St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum has a mission to “discover, preserve, present, and keep alive the stories of the ...

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 Station, which was the subject of an amazing restoration in the 1990s and is open for overnight stays. Early brazier...

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 illustration of Boston Light Station, USLHS archives. Michelle and Jeremy discuss more of the early history of the oldest lighthou...

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 Jewell Shaw travel a bit north of the Cape for the history segment, which covers the early history of the first lig...

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. Tremendous strides have been made in the restoration of the property, which will soon be accessible to the public. Jer...

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. Through Essex Heritage, tours of the historic light station are available, and also overnight stays. Smeaton’s ...

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 Point Lighthouse on the south shore of Lake Ontario, in Hilton, New York, a few miles northwest of Rochester. The...

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 shows and received a “Keeper of the Light” award from the American Lighthouse Foundation. Big Bay Point Lightho...

Join host jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson at New Hampshire’s Exeter Inn as they discuss the Kõpu Lighthouse on the Estonian Island of Hiiumaa, originally built in 1531. It’s the third oldest operating lighthouse in the world. Kõpu Lighthouse on a Soviet stamp The featured interview is with Anne E. Witsenburg of Monumentsfund Aruba, the organization that manages the California Lighthouse near the northern tip of the island. The recently restored lighthouse, which is more than 100 ye...

In episode five of Light Hearted, host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson discuss the Hook Lighthouse in Ireland in the history segment. There’s also the usual trivia question with prizes. Bob Trapani, Jr., with one of the interpretive displays in the keeper’s house at Owls Head. The featured interview is with Bob Trapani, Jr. Since 2005, Bob has served as the executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation, a nonprofit organization with its headquarters in the historic keepe...

In this installment of Light Hearted, we meet Ben Swan and Gigi Lirot of Whitehead Light Station, on an 80-acre island in Midcoast Maine. Whitehead offers three-to-five-day programs that focus on a variety of subjects and activities taught by an instructor. Ben Swan is the executive director, and Gigi Lirot is the island manager for Whitehead Light Station. Gigi Lirot and friend at Whitehead Island Host Jeremy D’Entremont also interviews Catherine Bumpus, a lifelong sailor who is the executive ...

Eric S. Martin The entire content of this special edition of Light Hearted is an interview with Eric S. Martin, who is president of the Florida Keys Reef Lights Foundation and a board member of the Florida Lighthouse Association. The conversation ranges from the history of the Florida Reef lights and the difficulties involved with their preservation, to the current auction that holds the fate of Sand Key Lighthouse in the balance. Eric, who lives far inland in Orlando, Florida, also talks about...

Dolly Bicknell at Scituate Lighthouse In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont is joined by co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses , recent winner of a volunteerism award from the American Lighthouse Foundation. The lighthouse history segment focuses on the ancient Roman lighthouse in Dover, England, and the ruins of the Roman lighthouse at Leptis Magna in Libya. And once again, there’s a trivia question with prizes going out to the first two listeners who get t...

Chad Kaiser (New Dungeness Light Station Association) In episode 2 of the podcast, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Chad Kaiser, general manager of the New Dungeness Light Station in Sequim, Washington. Chad is also a lampist (Fresnel lens expert) and preservationist, and a “part two” of this interview will be heard in a future episode. Chad and Jeremy (why does that sound familiar?) talk about the remoteness of New Dungeness, which is at the end of a five mile sand spit, and about the “keepe...

This premiere episode of the new U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, with host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson, was recorded at the Exeter Inn in Exeter, New Hampshire. In the first episode, Jeremy and Cindy talk about the origins of navigation in early society, and there’s a trivia question with prizes to be sent to the first two listeners with the correct answer. Entries should be emailed to jeremy@uslhs.org, and it should be specified that the entry is answering the trivia question ...