Ashtabula, Ohio, is a community of about 18,000 people at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on Lake Erie. In the late 1800s the city was a major port for the shipping of coal and iron ore. The first lighthouse in Ashtabula Harbor was a small wooden tower built in 1836. When the channel into the harbor was widened and a breakwater was constructed in 1905, a new lighthouse was built at the end of the breakwater: the square two-story dwelling with a short tower on its roof that still stands today.

The lighthouse was automated in 1973. A house that was built on the mainland in 1871 for the keepers and families is now the Ashtabula Maritime & Surface Transportation Museum, with more than 25,000 historic items on display. Ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society in 2007. Our guest, Joe Santiana, is the president of the Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society.