Light Hearted

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse on Florida’s east coast is owned by the United States Space Force and maintained as an active aid to navigation by the Coast Guard. Visits to the lighthouse are made available by the nonprofit Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. The Foundation completed the construction of a new replica keeper’s house in 2019. Funding has now been secured for the building of two additional replica keepers’ houses to improve the visitor experience. In this episode, Becky Zingarelli, museum director for the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, discusses the new project.

The winner of our recent 2024 Lighthouse Dance Off, as selected by the audience who attended our recent 40th anniversary virtual telethon, was the Encore Dance Academy, and their winning video was shot at the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse. Kristy Hefner, owner and artistic director of Encore Dance Academy, discusses the production of the winning entry. Also taking part in the discussion are John Winkopp and Mike Piana, who shot and edited the dance video.

Photos courtesy of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation.

This is an edited version of an interview first heard in episode 21 in August 2019. Halfway Rock Lighthouse is a 76-foot granite tower built in 1871 on a windswept ledge far out in Maine’s Casco Bay. The property was bought at auction in 2014 by entrepreneur Ford Reiche.

His amazing restoration has earned him several awards. The Maine Preservation Association recognized the project with its 2016 Preservation Award, and the American Lighthouse Foundation presented Ford Reiche a 2017 “Keeper of the Light” award honoring his “contribution to the preservation of America’s lighthouses and their rich tradition.” Most recently, he received this year’s National Maritime Historical Society Distinguished Service Award. 

To celebrate the 300th episode of this podcast, host Jeremy D’Entremont spoke with almost every person who’s served as a co-host in the past five-plus years. He asked each person a simple question – What has been your most memorable lighthouse experience?

The answers are all over the map, which points out that there are an infinite number of ways that people connect with lighthouses.

Interviewed are Averie Shaughnessy-Comfort, Ben Ridings, Bob Trapani Jr., Cindy Johnson, Emily Straight, Heather and Guin Porter, Jen Lewis, Judianne Point, Michelle Jewell Shaw, Ralph Krugler, Rob Apse, Sarah MacHugh, Shalana Millard, and U.S. Lighthouse Society Executive Director Jeff Gales.

Nick Korstad, who is originally from Portland, Oregon, fell in love with lighthouses when he was in middle school. When Borden Flats Light in Fall River, Massachusetts, came up for sale via government auction in 2010, Nick saw a great opportunity. He achieved his dream of public access when he opened the lighthouse for overnight stays in 2013.

Big Bay Point Lighthouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has been privately owned since the early 1960s and it was has been converted into a bed and breakfast inn. Since 2018, Nick has been the resident owner.

In recent years, Nick has spearheaded the restoration of Browns Head Lighthouse on Vinalhaven Island in Maine. In 2022, a nonprofit group called the Friends of Browns Head Lighthouse was formed, with the goal of opening it to the public for overnight stays next year. Much work has already been completed. At the end of 2023, Nick was elected president of the American Lighthouse Foundation.

The Lightship Overfalls, more properly known as the LV-118 or the WAL 539, was the last lightship built under the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Built in East Boothbay, Maine, in 1938, the 116-foot-long vessel incorporated the latest features of lightship design at the time. The LV-118 saw duty in several locations in its active career. From 1938 to 1957 it was at Cornfield Point, at the east end of Long Island Sound off Old Saybrook, Connecticut. From 1958 to 1962 it served at the Cross Rip station near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. And from 1962 to 1972 it marked the approach to Boston Harbor, six miles east of Boston Light.

Today, the Lightship Overfalls is a National Historic Landmark. Thanks to thousands of hours put in by countless volunteers, the vessel is fully restored and is open to the public on the Lewes waterfront. The guest in this episode, John Bolster, is the curator and a board member for the Overfalls Foundation.

This is part two of a two-part interview with Henry Gonzalez, who became the president of the U.S. Lighthouse Society this past spring after 25 years in a vice presidential role.

Henry has lighthouses in his  blood. He’s the great-great-grandson of a lighthouse keeper who served on the north coast of Spain from 1863 to 1904, and he  has a third cousin who is currently a lighthouse keeper in Spain. Henry and his wife, Chris, have seen hundreds of lighthouses throughout the United States and Spain, Portugal, France, and Norway. They have three children and six grandchildren, several of whom are being trained to be future lighthouse keepers.

This week’s guest, Henry Gonzalez, was the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s Vice President for East Coast Operations from 1999 until 2006. He assumed a broader role as the Society’s sole Vice President until March 2024, when he began a four-year term as president. Henry also served two terms as President of the Chesapeake Chapter of the Society from 1997 to 2007. He was the project manager of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse.

Henry performs all of his lighthouse-related duties as a volunteer. In 2015 he retired from the federal government after a 31-year career in civil service as an engineer, project manager and senior executive. In 2021, Henry was the recipient of the F. Ross Holland Award, which is considered one of the lighthouse community’s highest honors.

Part 2 of this interview will be included in episode 297 next week.

The three interviews heard in this episode date back to the summer of 1988, when Light Hearted host Jeremy D’Entremont traveled up the Maine coast to visit lighthouses. The first interview is with Maurice Babcock Jr., at his home in Lubec, Maine. His father, Maurice Babcock Sr., was the last civilian keeper at Boston Light. He was the prinicipal keeper there from 1926 to 1941 after about a decade as a keeper at other Massachusetts light stations.

The second interview is with Larry Baum, the last Coast Guard keeper at Fort Point Light Station in Stockton Springs, Maine. The last interview is with Malcolm Rouse, the final Coast Guard keeper at Owls Head Light Station in midcoast Maine. The light stations at Fort Point and Owls Head were in the process of being automated when these interviews were conducted. Malcolm Rouse was also the final Coast Guard keeper at West Quoddy Head Light Station before it was automated earlier that year.

Christian Taber is a 17-year-old high school student and athlete living in Upstate New York. Christian is a speaker, author, and entrepeneur. A passion for lighthouses has figured heavily in his work. Christian has written for the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s journal “The Keeper’s Log” and for our news blog.

As the founder and CEO of NavigatorTeen, Christian has always embraced a simple yet powerful philosophy: anything is possible. One of his many passions is to empower teenagers to create their own path to success here and now… and ultimately to wherever their road takes them.

His new book is called “Be Your Own Navigator: A Success Guide for Teens by a Teen.” Christian says that the book “ is not a lecture from your parents or a cryptic survival manual. It is a compass guiding you through proven skills that can be used to juggle the chaos of daily life, excel in school or sports, and everything in between. Welcome aboard – let’s write your success story.”

Three-acre Cedar Island is on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, on the approach to Sag Harbor, which was a busy whaling port in the first half of the nineteenth century. A wooden lighthouse was established on Cedar Island in 1839, and it was replaced in 1868 by the granite lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling that still stands today. The lighthouse was discontinued in 1934 and was in private ownership until 1967, when it was purchased by Suffolk County and incorporated into a park. 

In 1974 the interior of the building was gutted by a fire. In 2002, Friends of the Cedar Island Lighthouse began working with Suffolk County Parks to restore the lighthouse. There are two guests in today’s episode. Joe Livolsi is a board member of the Friends of Cedar Island Lighthouse, and Michael Leahy is the chairman of the organization.