PBS TV Shows

Both my husband and I want to thank you for helping PBS present the Legendary Lighthouses Series. We do subscribe to your magazine and enjoy it very much. Our best adventures are seeking out lighthouses in person. Thanks again.

Barbara & Bob Roberts

Illinois

Just a note of thanks for your sponsorship of the PBS special series Legendary Lighthouses. The programs will go a long way in bringing attention to our American lighthouses.

Over the past decade many interested individuals, private organizations and the U.S. Coast Guard, have made significant progress in preserving our many lighthouses. But as you are aware, new problems have arisen and new issues have surfaced concerning the lights and properties once cared for by the USCG. All of us need to keep the image of these maritime treasures before the public so they will understand the tremendous responsibility some have taken in preserving the lights.

Once again, thank you for your support and dedication to American lighthouses.

Joseph G. Pais

Assistant Director

Key West Art & Historical Society, Inc.

Key West (Florida) Lighthouse

Editor's reply: Thanks for the kind words. The Legendary Lighthouses, PBS six hour series, has definitely drawn more attention to lighthouses than anything in modern history. We have received thousands of letters, phone calls and E-Mails thanking Lighthouse Depot and Lighthouse Digest for underwriting the series. Another way to help keep lighthouses in the public view is through the pages of Lighthouse Digest and we would hope that the various lighthouse groups across the country will help us to enlarge our subscription base.

First Time Reader Recalls Living History

As a first time reader of Lighthouse Digest, I felt I should write and tell you how much I enjoyed it. It is nice to know that people care about our maritime history and preserving an important and valuable segment of it. Many times "we" who have been part of it, don't appreciate the importance of it to our history and country, but only look at it as an Aid to Navigation.

During my younger life, I spent over fifteen years going to sea first in the Merchant Marines, then as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. It was during my service in the Coast Guard that I not only worked Aids to Navigation, but served on a former U.S. Lighthouse Service Tender, (then the USCG Cutter Columbine - WATF-150) with personnel of the former U.S. Lighthouse Service. I had the opportunity to not only know, but work with personnel of the former Lighthouse Service. Next I went to work on the Coast Guard Cutter Avoyel, which acted as a tender to "BLUNTS" Reef Lightship and the St. George Reef Lighthouse, two of the most remote stations in the lower 48 states. It was during my time at CGC Monterry that I served as a relief Keeper at both Point Pinos Light and Pigeon Point Light. I considered it a job, which it was, but did not think that what I did was of any interest to others.

It is like a truck driver after a week on the road coming home and getting in an RV to drive somewhere. When you do it for a living, it's different. So with what I did, I didn't bother to take pictures or write down items that would be of historical interest. I was given the gift of remembering stories, which helps.

In my part of Virginia, where I now pastor, the only lighthouse that anyone knows about is the picture of one in my office. Which reminds me often of what small part I had with their operation.

It gives me delight to know not only through your excellent magazine that there is interest in lighthouses, but that there are groups that have come together to save and operate them.

Rev. W. David Hoover

Virginia

Loves Magazine

My husband and I are subscribers to your magazine and look forward to receiving each issue. It's hard to put it down once we've started to read it . . . so we usually end up going through each issue in one evening!

Living in Indiana, our focus is geared towards Michigan lighthouses. We recently returned from our honeymoon to Michigan's upper peninsula where we saw many fabulous lighthouses, including Crisp Point.

Ed & Jackie(Diesing) Cusack

Indiana

Lighthouse Digest brings 'em in

Lighthouse Digest is an International Lighthouse Magazine. Early last year Lighthouse Digest included information about our GLLKA conference/cruise in the Calendar of Events. We received an immediate response from Central America!

Sandy Rensch of Guanaja, Honduras, spotted the information on our Lake Ontario Conference at Thirty Mile Point and Fort Niagara Lighthouses. Sandy's father was a keeper at Thirty Mile Point. She lived at the light and later on in life married Julius Rensch and they became innkeepers at Guanaja. The Rensches sent five reservations, including a daughter from Florida for the conference and a family reunion.

A third of our Lake Erie and Lake Ontario conference attendees came as a result of the Calendar of Events listing in Lighthouse Digest. Just thought you'd like to know.

Pat & Jerry Biggs

Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Asso.

We Get Slammed, But We Won't Budge

Never have I seen such inaccurate and sloppy work as that offered on page 17 of your recent magazine, (September, 1998), dealing with Presque Isle Light (PA). The copy is biased, inaccurate and without merit. Instead of dwelling on the excitement of the new exhibit the author chose to make accusations about park management and the governor . . . all without merit.

First, the event in question celebrated the creation of an exhibit that was totally funded by a non-profit group . . .the Presque Isle Partnership. The event was arranged, sponsored and paid for by the Partnership . . . it was not a state function. The intent of the dedication was to thank all of those who helped pay the $60,000 cost of the project. "Common lighthouse" folks were not invited because they never gave a penny for the project. The affluent group included those who gave large amounts, as well as those who are in a position to continue their support of the Partnership for future projects, both at the lighthouse and around the park. Each guest cost us about $10.00 because of lunch and gifts...a fundamental reason for limiting attendance and excluding the general public. Also, parking in the lighthouse area is severely restricted, with space only for the invited 150 guests.

"Common" lighthouse people are not active here at all...they don't get involved in cleaning the beaches, especially lighthouse beach, or in any of the many volunteer projects we manager. They are, in fact, unknown to us...making an invitation to them a moot point.

As far as Governor Ridge vetoing the bill on license plates...totally false. Those kinds of license plates were banned totally by the legislature because of complaints by the state police and others because they were highly confusing. No bill ever reached the governor...a fact which is common knowledge.

Apparently, the author was a Democrat with an ax to grind...and a bias against the Governor. The Governor has appeared on three separate occasions to help the Partnership raise money...and not one cent of that money was contributed by any lighthouse group.

We do meet many tourists who are lighthouse buffs and have worked well with other lighthouse groups across the country, arranging their visits to Presque Isle and helping groups on arrival. We have worked closely with Scassis to develop a more accurate replica of the Presque Isle Light and new replicas of the Erie Land Lighthouse and the North Pier Light.

In the future, I would think that you should have your staff or contributors check their facts and call me for information.

Dan Guerrein

Executive Director Presque Isle Partnership, P.O. Box 8510, Presque Isle, PA 16505

Editors Reply:

First, let me state that our staff did not write the story, I did, and I'm sticking to my guns. Your lighthouse is a public domain lighthouse and thus should be available to all the public, all the time. It is the "Common folks" who visit your area as tourists and spend money in the community.

The facts are more than clear, Mr. Guerrein, Governor Ridge of Pennsylvania wimped out on the state's license plate. Are you trying to tell us that the legislature and governors of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina and New York didn't know what they were doing when they supported and approved lighthouse license plates for their states? If you are indeed a true lover of lighthouses, why do you defend the fact that certain officials in your state stopped the approved lighthouse license plate for Pennsylvania? The State Police confusion angle is just plain hogwash.

You said that "Common" lighthouse people are unknown to you and making an invitation to them is a moot point. You couldn't be more wrong. Those "Common" lighthouse people are the tourists and lighthouse lovers from all over the country who visit your lighthouse. When they visit your lighthouse, they spend money in your area at gas stations, restaurants, motels, etc. Do you also expect them to stay and clean up the mess left on the beaches by others? That's your job, not theirs. I can tell you for a fact that lighthouse aficionados are respectful of any lighthouse area that they visit.

And, finally, you said that none of the lighthouse groups contributed money toward your new exhibits. Why should they? These other lighthouse groups are trying desperately to raise money to actually save their own lighthouse from being lost forever which is and should be their only priority. Also, just who did you ask for donations? You sure didn't ask us.

(Let me remind our readers not to confuse Presque Isle Lights in Presque Isle, Michigan, with the lighthouse we are referring to here at Presque Isle, Pennsylvania.)

Perhaps it is time to ask lighthouse aficionados to boycott Pennsylvania's Presque Isle Lighthouse until they get off their high horse and get back to reality. Lighthouses are not just for the affluent; they are for everybody.

A Note of Thanks to Keeper Past

Just a note to let you know how much I enjoy Lighthouse Digest. Also, to tell anyone who visits the Outer Banks of North Carolina to stop by and visit Bodie Island Lighthouse and chat with the son of the last keeper. A couple of my friends and I visited the Outer Banks in September and one of the highlights was our talking with him. His stories about growing up there were wonderful. To live on the Outer Banks before it was developed as it is today, must have been fascinating. We want all to know how much it added to our trip.

Janet Price

Tennessee

This story appeared in the December 1998 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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