Episodes

Edward Rowe Snow, his daughter Dolly, and his wife Anna-Myrle prepare for a Flying Santa flight in 1964. (Friends of Flying Santa) The Flying Santa tradition traces its origins to a pioneering pilot in Maine named Bill Wincapaw. To show his appreciation to lighthouse keepers and their families, on Christmas Day in 1929 he loaded his plane with a dozen packages and dropped gifts for the lighthouse families in the midcoast area. He soon expanded the flights to more of the Maine coast and to the ot...

Fire Island Light Station, New York. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. Fire Island is one of a chain of barrier islands running along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The first lighthouse on Fire Island was a 74-foot-high stone tower built in 1826. It was considered too short, so the much taller brick lighthouse that still stands was built in 1858. The new tower was fitted with a powerful first-order Fresnel lens. For many years, the flash of the Fire Island Lighthouse was the first sight of...

Ernie DeRaps, a native Mainer, spent several years in the 1950s and ‘60s as a Coast Guard lighthouse keeper at four Maine lighthouses – Monhegan, Fort Point, Heron Neck, and Browns Head. A book written by Ernie and his wife Pauline was published by Foghorn publishing in 2006. Ernie’s half of the book was called Lighthouse Keeping. If you turn the book over and upside down, the other half of the book, by Pauline, or Polly, Fitzgerald DeRaps, was called Light Housekeeping. “Light Hearted” host Je...

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, Wisconsin (courtesy photo) Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, established in 1868, is on a 76-foot bluff in Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. The square tower, constructed of Cream City brick from Milwaukee, is connected to the keeper’s house. The light served to guide shipping through the Strawberry Channel. In its active history (1868-1926), there were only three keepers. William Duclon served an impressive 35 years (1883-1918). He and his wife raised seven sons at t...

Joseph Hindley and his daughter Betty. Courtesy of Betty Hindley Hatzikon. Joseph Hindley had a long career as a lighthouse keeper that spanned from the late 1920s to 1972, when he retired as the last civilian keeper in the New England region. He served at offshore stations early in his career: Whale Rock (RI), Butler Flats (MA), and Sakonnet Point (RI). He and his family spent six years at Gay Head Light Station on Martha’s Vineyard, and then 16 years at Nobska Point Light Station on Cape Cod. ...

Manitowoc North Breakwater Lighthouse, USLHS photo by Tom Tag The city of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is on the west shore of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. The Manitowoc North Breakwater Lighthouse, built in 1918, is one of the area’s most familiar icons. The lighthouse property was auctioned by the federal government in 2010 under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The buyer was Philip Carlucci of Melville, New York. Courtesy of the Manitowoc S...

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse on Florida’s east coast is owned by the United States Space Force and maintained as an active aid to navigation by the Coast Guard. Visits to the lighthouse are made available by the nonprofit Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. The Foundation completed the construction of a new replica keeper’s house in 2019. Funding has now been secured for the building of two additional replica keepers’ houses to improve the visitor experience. In this episode, Becky Zingarelli, mu...

This is an edited version of an interview first heard in episode 21 in August 2019. Halfway Rock Lighthouse is a 76-foot granite tower built in 1871 on a windswept ledge far out in Maine’s Casco Bay. The property was bought at auction in 2014 by entrepreneur Ford Reiche. Ford Reiche in 2017; photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. His amazing restoration has earned him several awards. The Maine Preservation Association recognized the project with its 2016 Preservation Award, and the American Lighthouse Fo...

To celebrate the 300th episode of this podcast, host Jeremy D’Entremont spoke with almost every person who’s served as a co-host in the past five-plus years. He asked each person a simple question – What has been your most memorable lighthouse experience? The answers are all over the map, which points out that there are an infinite number of ways that people connect with lighthouses. Interviewed are Averie Shaughnessy-Comfort, Ben Ridings, Bob Trapani Jr., Cindy Johnson, Emily Straight, Heathe...

Nick Korstad Nick Korstad, who is originally from Portland, Oregon, fell in love with lighthouses when he was in middle school. When Borden Flats Light in Fall River, Massachusetts, came up for sale via government auction in 2010, Nick saw a great opportunity. He achieved his dream of public access when he opened the lighthouse for overnight stays in 2013. Big Bay Point Lighthouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has been privately owned since the early 1960s and it was has been converted into a b...

Lightship Overfalls, photo by Jeremy D’Entremont The Lightship Overfalls, more properly known as the LV-118 or the WAL 539, was the last lightship built under the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Built in East Boothbay, Maine, in 1938, the 116-foot-long vessel incorporated the latest features of lightship design at the time. The LV-118 saw duty in several locations in its active career. From 1938 to 1957 it was at Cornfield Point, at the east end of Long Island Sound off Old Saybrook, Connecticut. From ...

Henry and Chris with two of their grandkids This is part two of a two-part interview with Henry Gonzalez, who became the president of the U.S. Lighthouse Society this past spring after 25 years in a vice presidential role. Chris and Henry at Fastnet Lighthouse in Ireland. Henry has lighthouses in his blood. He’s the great-great-grandson of a lighthouse keeper who served on the north coast of Spain from 1863 to 1904, and he has a third cousin who is currently a lighthouse keeper in Spain. Henry ...

Henry Gonzalez and his wife, Chris, at Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, Maryland. This week’s guest, Henry Gonzalez, was the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s Vice President for East Coast Operations from 1999 until 2006. He assumed a broader role as the Society’s sole Vice President until March 2024, when he began a four-year term as president. Henry also served two terms as President of the Chesapeake Chapter of the Society from 1997 to 2007. He was the project manager of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthou...

Jeremy D’Entremont and Malcom Rouse at Owls Head Light Station in 1988. Photo by Charlotte Raczkowsi. The three interviews heard in this episode date back to the summer of 1988, when Light Hearted host Jeremy D’Entremont traveled up the Maine coast to visit lighthouses. The first interview is with Maurice Babcock Jr., at his home in Lubec, Maine. His father, Maurice Babcock Sr., was the last civilian keeper at Boston Light. He was the prinicipal keeper there from 1926 to 1941 after about a decad...

Christian Taber is a 17-year-old high school student and athlete living in Upstate New York. Christian is a speaker, author, and entrepeneur. A passion for lighthouses has figured heavily in his work. Christian has written for the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s journal “The Keeper’s Log” and for our news blog. As the founder and CEO of NavigatorTeen, Christian has always embraced a simple yet powerful philosophy: anything is possible. One of his many passions is to empower teenagers to create their ...

The badly rusted lantern was lifted off the building for restoration in 2013. (Courtesy of Friends of the Cedar Island Lighthouse) Three-acre Cedar Island is on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, on the approach to Sag Harbor, which was a busy whaling port in the first half of the nineteenth century. A wooden lighthouse was established on Cedar Island in 1839, and it was replaced in 1868 by the granite lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling that still stands today. The lighthouse was discontinue...

The town of Scituate, Massachusetts, on Boston’s South Shore, developed a significant fishing industry by the late 1800s. A stone lighthouse tower was built at Cedar Point, and it began service in April 1812. A major restoration of the lighthouse has taken place over the past two years. Bob Gallagher spoke at the event on August 7 Much work on the lighthouse has been completed, including the fabrication of a new lantern. The restoration was celebrated at the lighthouse on August 7, National Lig...

Rose Island Lighthouse, photo by Jeremy D’Entremont Located a mile offshore from Newport, Rhode Island, is Rose Island Lighthouse, which began service in 1870. It consists of an octagonal lighthouse tower rising from the west side of a mansard roof on top of a one-and-one-half-story wooden keeper’s dwelling. The light lost its importance as a navigational aid with the construction of the Newport Bridge in 1969. In the 1980s, a group of dedicated local preservationists founded the Rose Island Lig...

Suellen Wedmore and a first-order Fresnel lens on display at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachuetts. Melanie Correia Suellan Wedmore‘s poetry has appeared in many publications and she has won numerous awards, including first place in both the Writer’s Digest Rhyming and the Non-Rhyming Poem contests. The poems in Suellen’s book A Fixed White Light enter the lives of six of courageous and mostly forgotten female lighthouse keepers, giving readers the opportunity to experience their hero...

The fog bell house at Pemaquid Point after the storms of January 2024 The lighthouse tower at Pemaquid Point in the town of Bristol, Maine, was built in 1835, which makes it one of the oldest on the New England coast. The historic fog bell building at Pemaquid Point was badly damaged by storms in January – the same storms that damaged more than 20 light stations in Maine and New Hampshire. Repair work on the bell house and other parts of the light station are almost finished. Shelley Gallagher, ...

Key West Lighthouse, courtesy of KWAHS Key West Lighthouse has stood as a well-loved landmark in one of America’s most colorful cities since 1848, when it replaced an earlier lighthouse that began service in early 1826. The original tower was destroyed by a hurricane in 1846. The tower that stands today is constructed of brick and stands 73 feet tall. Dr. Cori Convertito, courtesy of KWAHS After the navigational light was discontinued in 1969, the property was turned over to Monroe County. It w...

Larry Wright is a national gold medal award winning photographer who has been involved with lighthouse preservation since 1991. He was on the Board of Directors for the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association based in Mackinac, Michigan, for 20 years. Larry has co-written four books about lighthouses on the Great Lakes along with his wife Pat. They are The Great Lakes Lighthouses Encyclopedia; Bonfires and Beacons; Bright Lights, Dark Nights; and Lightships of the Great Lakes. Larry is curre...

Piney Point Lighthouse and keepers house, Maryland. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont This episode has three segments. In the first, photographer Pete Lerro describes a photo workshop he will be leading in Maine in October. In the third segment, Judianne Point discusses some exciting happenings at Chatham Light in Massachusetts and Beavertail Light in Rhode Island. Sandwiched in the middle is a conversation about the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum and Historic Park in Maryland. Ken Burke In 1836, a 35...

Concord Point Lighthouse, photo by Jeremy D’Entremont Concord Point Lighthouse in Havre de Grace, Maryland, was built in 1827. That makes it the second oldest standing lighthouse in the state. The conical, 36-foot tower was built of stone that was barged down the Susquehannah River from Port Deposit. In 1918, the light was automated. After that, the property changed hands at least 10 times and for a while served as a rooming house, restaurant, and bar. The light was decommissioned in 1975, and ...