Lighthouses of the North Atlantic Coast

By Linda Osborne Cynowa

Lighthouses of the North Atlantic Coast will explore many of the lighthouses and breakwater, pier, and reef lights in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Whether it is Portland Head Lighthouse in Maine or Fenwick Island Lighthouse in Delaware, then as now, people love to visit the lights while on holiday and send postcards back home. Many of these important navigational aids are still in existence and can be visited.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jul 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781439678381

Linda Osborne Cynowa

Linda Osborne Cynowa has had a love of the lighthouses for many years, and she has enjoyed visiting with the intent of photographing them. She has a background in photography and genealogy, along with postcard collecting and a lifelong love of history. She volunteered at the archives at her local library, researching the historical homes and families in the Romeo and Washington area where she lives. She is the author of Washington Township (2019), Macomb Township (2020), Farming in Northern Macomb County (2021), and Lighthouses and Lifesaving on the Great Lakes (2022), all published by Arcadia Publishing.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

A lighthouse is loosely defined as a tower or structure used to display a light for the guidance of ships to either avoid a dangerous area, such as shoals or reefs, or to identify a safe harbor. The purpose of the light is to provide the ships at sea with a fixed point of reference to aid their ability to navigate in the dark when the shore or offshore hazards cannot be seen directly. The distance from which a light can be seen depends on the height and intensity of the light. The brighter the light and the greater its height above the sea, the farther it can be seen. These lights provide early warnings of reefs, sandbars, submerged rocks, and unseen cliffs and as daymarks and landmarks at night when fog, snow, haze, and wind whip up the sea itself.

Many hazards are encountered off the shores of the northern Atlantic states, where the lighthouses were so important. Its thick fog that settles over waterways in this area sometimes makes noticing hazards impossible, leading to this area being known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware are the focus of this book, with vintage postcards showing what many of these states’ lighthouses once looked like. Many of the buildings around the light stations have been torn down and removed, and in some places, only the light tower now exists.

Before the US Lighthouse Board was established in 1852, local collectors of customs were responsible for lighthouses in their area and worked under Stephen Pleasonton, who was known for his work in document preservation and his bureaucratic work in overseeing the Treasury Department’s Lighthouse Establishment. The Lighthouse Board was in effect until 1910, when the US Lighthouse Service was created to take over lighthouse responsibilities. In 1939, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt decided to incorporate the Lighthouse Service and transfer it to the US Coast Guard. As their importance to navigation has diminished while public interest in them has increased, the Coast Guard has been turning over ownership and responsibilities for their running to individual societies, towns, and among others, the National Park Service, because of the expense of maintaining these structures. With the sentimental and historical attachment to these lights, a solution was needed.

The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 created a process for the transfer of federally owned lighthouses into private hands. With the automation of the lighthouses early in the 20th century and a further push in the 1960s, the goal was to relieve most of the keepers. These high-maintenance structures are constantly subjected to ocean and lake air and the invasive effects of water and ice. Quite often, the land around the lights was lost to erosion. With the unmanned structures being left to the ravages of vandals and thieves, their automation led to their demolition and destruction. Many of the lighthouses are now under the protection of the National Register of Historic Places.

STONINGTON HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE, STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT. The Postal Act of May 19, 1898, provided for the extensive private production of postcards measuring 3.25 by 5.5 inches. Messages could only be written on the front, as seen here. The back was reserved exclusively for the address. After March 1, 1907, the law specified that messages could be written on the backs of cards. Cards of this new style were called divided back because of the vertical line to the left of which a message could be written, with the address on the right. Undivided back cards remained in the inventories of shops for many years.

One

MAINE

PORTLAND HEAD LIGHT, CAPE ELIZABETH, 1791. When completed in 1791, the original plans called for the tower of the Portland Head Light at Portland Point to be 58 feet tall, but during construction, it was raised to 72 feet. By 1813, it was lowered by 20 feet. In 1864, it was raised by 20 feet. In 1883, the tower was once again lowered by 20 feet. By 1884, after complaints, the light was once again raised by 20 feet, and a second-order lens fitted into the lantern room.

PORTLAND HEAD LIGHTHOUSE, CAPE ELIZABETH. In 1816, a new one-story 20 by 34 foot keeper’s house was built of stone with two rooms, an attic, and an area for a kitchen. The original 1790 dwelling had become unusable. Because of inclement weather, there was a need for the keeper’s area to be attached to the tower. In 1891, the stone keeper’s house was taken down, and a wood-frame duplex 42 feet by 42 feet was built with room for both the head keeper and the assistant keeper. Over the years, many changes and improvements were made to the tower and the dwelling as weather pushed the limits of the structures. On August 7, 1989, The light was automated.

POND ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE, PHIPPSBURG. The towers and dwellings built in 1821, 1835, and 1843 had all seen the need for improvements. In 1855, a 20-foot tower made of a stronger brick was built and fitted with a fifth-order Fresnel lens, along with a wood-frame