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Lighting St. Augustine
This photograph was taken on September 3, 1993, by Candace Barbot for the Miami Herald. The caption with the photo reads as follows: “One of the beehive shaped prism eyes of the St. Augustine Lighthouse stares out the window to the sea, as it rotates once every 30 seconds. The original prisms, made in France, were destroyed through vandalism in 1996; however, an Orlando doctor & father and son glassmakers from Delaware replicated it using several 300 pound blocks of glass – ground into prisms. There are 370 different prisms that spread the light of one 1000-watt bulb.”
Where in Maine?
From an original photograph, this image of a faux lighthouse shows the words “Vacationland 1946,” cut into the lawn. However, we don’t know where the photo was taken or what happened to the lighthouse. The photograph appears to have been taken in a downtown park area, probably somewhere along the coast of Maine. In the 1890s, publicists for the Maine Central Railroad started using the name “Vacationland” to promote train ridership from other nearby states to Maine. In 1936 the name Vacationland began appearing on Maine’s automobile license plates. If you can help us with the history of this faux lighthouse, we’d love to hear from you.
Forgotten Lighthouse Model
Shown on this vintage post card is a model of a lighthouse atop the roof of the Tuna Club on Bailey Island, Maine. Research tells us that the Bailey Island Tuna Club was established during the winter of 1938-1939. The objective for the club was to promote sport fishing. It was stated that on August 5, 1939, 5,000 spectators gathered to witness or participate in the events.
Sturgeon Bay Before 1903
This vintage post card shows Wisconsin’s 1899 Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouse before 1903 when skeletal steel framework was installed to stabilize the tower.
Biloxi 1974
This photo dated in February of 1974 shows three men, two ladies, and one child posing by the beach with the 1848 Biloxi Lighthouse in Biloxi, Mississippi behind them. The photo was in an old unidentified family photo album found in an antique store. Unfortunately, since there were no names written on the reverse of the photo, we will most likely never know the names of these people, or what they were doing in Biloxi. How sad.
A Newspaper’s World’s Fair Recommendation
One of New York’s newspapers published this photo in its Travel Section on June 7, 1964, as a recommendation to people who were attending the 1964 World’s Fair that this would be a great lighthouse to visit if they were headed north after visiting the fair. The caption that they ran with the photo stated: “WORLD’S FAIR visitors who head north into Eastern Canada will enjoy sights such as this lighthouse at Rusticoville, Prince Edward Island. Back of the seashore the land is rich, and even the lighthouse keepers raise domestic stock such as geese.” The 1964 World’s Fair held in New York City was visited by 51 million during its two, six-month seasons from April 22 to October 18, 1964, and April 21 to October 17, 1965. The Rustico Lighthouse, built in 1899, officially named the North Rustico Lighthouse, still stands today.
Touring Sheffield Island Lighthouse
This newspaper press photo, taken on June 26, 1982, shows visitors touring Connecticut’s Sheffield Island Lighthouse. If there was a specific story that went with this photo, we don’t know what it was about.
1988 Restoration at Sheffield Island
The 1868 Sheffield Island Lighthouse, offshore from Norwalk, Connecticut, is shown here in August of 1988 as it was undergoing restoration by the Norwalk Seaport Association. The lighthouse is also referred to as the Norwalk Lighthouse. It was deactivated in 1902 and relighted as an aid to navigation on October 17, 2011.
Promotional Photo of St. Marks Lighthouse
This discarded photo, which recently came into our possession, was issued by the State of Florida Development Commission, Florida News Bureau in Tallahassee, Florida. It was for an article from January 23, 1965, about the flocks of geese which nested there. The caption that went with the photo for the news media read: “The St. Marks Lighthouse is one of the old landmarks visitors see when they visit the National Wildlife Refuge located in Florida’s Panhandle. The St. Marks Refuge is a favorite wintering area for Canada geese, wood ducks and a variety of other birds.” Built in 1842, the St. Marks Lighthouse was automated in 1960. In 2014 ownership of the lighthouse was transferred from the Coast Guard to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. The restored 5th order lens that originally replaced a 4th order lens, is now on display at the Visitors Center. In 2019, a $40,000 replica 4th order Fresnel lens, paid for by Dr. David and Valerie Lahart, was placed in the lantern and the tower was relighted.
Posing at Five Mile Point in 1908
We don’t know who these ladies are, or why they were posing, at the 1847 Five Mile Point Lighthouse in New Haven, Connecticut. Since they were both dressed in nearly identical blouses and neck wear, they might have been posing for a publicity photo of some kind. The photo is dated June 12, 1908. Today, the lighthouse is part of Lighthouse Point Park, an 8-acre park with natural history displays, trails, picnic grove and antique carousel, which is all that is left of the 1904 Lighthouse Point Improvement Company resort, whose last amusement park buildings were demolished in 1957. The Five Mile Point Lighthouse is also known as the New Haven Harbor Lighthouse and the Old New Haven Lighthouse. This is the second lighthouse to stand at the site. The first one, established in 1805, stood until it was replaced by this 70-foot-tall tower in 1847. It was deactivated in 1877.
Gone, But Still Around
Shown here is the 1877 Vermilion Lighthouse in Vermilion, Ohio. The structure was discontinued in 1929 and moved to the Lighthouse Depot in Buffalo, New York where it remained in storage until 1935. It was then modified and moved to Cape Vincent, New York where it became the East Charity Shoal Lighthouse on Lake Ontario near the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. It still stands to this day. In 1992 a replica of the Vermilion Lighthouse was installed in Vermilion, Ohio.
Old English Post Card
This early 1900s post card shows the 1894 Withernsea Lighthouse and its keepers house located on the east coast of Yorkshire, England. Standing in the middle of the community’s residential area, the 127-foot-tall lighthouse ceased operations in 1976. The light station is now used as a museum and the tower is open to the public. When the lens was removed from the tower it was shipped to St. Mary’s Lighthouse on Whitley Bay on the northeast coast of England, where it is now on display.
Changes in France
This vintage post card is of the 1848 La Croix (Finistere) Lighthouse in Concarneau, France. Today, the area looks quite different, with a number of modern structures, and the upper railing and cupola of the lighthouse are painted with a fire-engine-red color.
PBS-TV American Pie – Searching for Home
This publicity photo of Maine’s Isle au Haut Lighthouse was released to the news media to promote a one-hour show that apparently aired its first episode on October 22, 1990. Following is the caption that went with it: “American Pie,” a new series of one-hour specials, each revolving around a distinctive theme, features outstanding short works by producers from local public television stations throughout the country. The first of these, “Searching for Home,” uncovers personal stories of what it means to ‘come home’ in America, including a nostalgic account of lighthouse keepers past and present.” We have not been able to locate a copy of the show. Perhaps our readers can help. (Photo by Susan Sulavik Peters)
Where the Atlantic Meets the Mediterranean
This press photo was released to newspapers nationwide as a filler on August 13, 1972 with the following caption: “Lighthouse designers in far-off Morocco have a different notion of what a lighthouse should be like than those who design the same type of structure in the United States. This multisided aid to navigation is at Tangier on a high point of land where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. The keeper’s quarters appear to be in the lower part of the structure looking down on the terraced gardens.” Interestingly, what the photographer could have also mentioned in his caption is that the nation of Morocco, in 1777, was the first in the world to recognize the United States as an independent nation. Because of a heavy American shipping presence in the area, the United States in 1903 started paying a small fee to Morocco to help maintain the lighthouse, a practice that may have continued as late as 1956.
67 Years Ago at Point Vicente
Left: On December 4, 1955 the “All Year Club of Southern California,” released this publicity photograph titled, “Southern California Fairyland,” with the following caption: “Unlimited adventure awaits Seattle families planning their 1955-56 winter vacation in Southern California’s land of flowers, as this view of the lighthouse atop the Palos Verdes headland at the Los Angeles Harbor entrance shows.” They then went on to provide information about where to write to them for maps and information on outdoor activities. The lighthouse shown is the 1926 Point Vicente Lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. More than likely, this was a staged photo, because this same couple appeared in other publicity photos for them.
Laundry Day
Because we have not been able to find the story or caption that went with this photograph, we’re not sure why the Houston Post published this vintage photo of the Halfmoon Reef Lighthouse on April 27, 1973. If you look closely, you will see laundry hanging on a clothes line, and two men, perhaps the keeper and the assistant keeper, standing on the deck. Established in 1858 in Matagorda Bay in the Gulf of Mexico near Port Lavaca, Texas, the lighthouse was deactivated in 1942. The lighthouse was purchased by a local businessman, Bill Bauer, who moved it to shore with plans to use it as quarters for the night watchman for his business. In 1978 he donated it to the Calhoun County Historical Society for use as a museum. With some alterations, it still stands today in Port Lavaca, Texas, as a community center.
Won the Lighthouse on a Coin Toss
This photo taken on December 14, 1984 by John Voorhees for The Advocate, a newspaper in Stamford, Connecticut, was published with the following caption: “Northeast Utilities will auction the Chatham Rocks Lighthouse with bids starting at $100,000. The auction will be closed to the public, but the high bidder is scheduled to talk to reporters.” The lighthouse, also known as Stamford Harbor Lighthouse, had been privately owned since 1953 when the federal government disposed of it. When the bidding reached $230,000, and only two people remained who were bidding against each other, a coin toss was suggested. The winner was businessman Eryk Spektor, spent a ton of money on the lighthouse, but he never spent any real time there. Eryk Spektor died in 1998 and the lighthouse was inherited by his son, who lives out of state and has not been to the lighthouse in years. With no care being given to it, the lighthouse now sits as a rusting hulk at the entrance to Stamford Harbor. It is for sale with an asking price of one-and-a-half million dollars.
From the Water in Portland
This 1910 snapshot of the 1875 Portland Breakwater Lighthouse in South Portland, Maine was probably taken by someone from a pleasure craft or from a passing ferryboat. Old snapshots like this are a vital part of saving the photographic history of lighthouses. In 1935, the keeper’s house and other structures associated with the lighthouse were demolished. Only the tower remains today and it is part of Bug Light Park.
Montauk in Danger of Collapse
This 1960s-era snapshot, which came from an old photo album of a family vacation to Long Island, New York, shows just how close the erodding coastline came to toppling the 1876 Montauk Point Lighthouse in Montauk, New York. At that time, the Coast Guard was considering abandoning the tower. Thankfully, a New Yorker named Giorgina Reid developed an innovative plan to stop the erosion and the lighthouse was saved.
Where are They Now?
This United Press International photo was released sixty years ago to newspapers on January 14, 1962 with the following caption: “As pretty as a picture, California’s Pigeon Point Lighthouse raises its 90-year-old tower behind visitors Mark Dana Hoffman (left) and Brent Lee Hoffman on the Pacific Coast some 40 miles south of San Francisco. The light owes its name and its existence to the ill-fated clipper ship Carrier Pigeon, which piled up on the nearby rocks with heavy loss of life nearly a century ago. The tragedy led to the construction of the beacon in 1872. It has been in continuous operation ever since.” We wonder where these boys are today. Are they still with us? Do they remember this photo? Editor’s note: Today the Pigeon Point Lighthouse is on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List of Endangered Lighthouses. However, restoration is expected to start in the very near future.
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 2022 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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