This premiere episode of the new U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, with host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson, was recorded at the Exeter Inn in Exeter, New Hampshire. In the first episode, Jeremy and Cindy talk about the origins of navigation in early society, and there's a trivia question with prizes to be sent to the first two listeners with the correct answer. Entries should be emailed to [email protected], and it should be specified that the entry is answering the trivia question in Light Hearted episode 1.

The featured interview is with Sophie Blackall, the award winning author and illustrator of the children's book "Hello Lighthouse." The charming book, winner of the 2019 Caldecott Medal as the most distinguished American picture book of the year for children, opens with the lines, "On the highest rock of a tiny island at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse. It is built to last forever."

Co-host Cindy Johnson, operations manager of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses

We hope you enjoy this new podcast. There will be new episodes every Monday, with extra episodes some weeks. Future episodes will include interviews with lighthouse preservationists, historians, and authors from around the U.S., and even from other countries.

If you have ideas for features, you can email Jeremy at [email protected].