Light Hearted

The Annapolis Maritime Museum and Park, or AMM, is devoted to teaching people about the area’s maritime heritage and Chesapeake Bay ecology through exhibits, programs, and events. The museum is also the starting point for public tours of Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, a national historic landmark. Interviewed in this episode are Alice Estrada, the president and CEO of the Annapolis Maritime Museum and Park, and Bill Cogar, who is the curator of collections.

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, in the town of St. Michaels, explores and preserves the history, environment, and culture of the entire Chesapeake Bay region. The museum is also home to the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse. The guests in this episode are Suzanne O’Donnell, school age educator, and Marketing and Communications Manager Eric Detweiler. The museum’s special programs for children and families are discussed.

Jennifer Anielski, librarian for the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia, is the guest co-host.

This is an edited version of an interview first heard in episode 48 in February 2020. The guest is author Lenore Skomal.

Ida Lewis was possibly the most famous lighthouse keeper in American history. She was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1842.  She became the official keeper at Lime Rock in Newport Harbor in 1879 and held the position for 32 years. Officially, Ida Lewis is credited with 18 lives saved. She became a celebrated national heroine.

Writer Lenore Skomal is the winner of multiple awards for literature, biography, and humor. Her book on Ida Lewis, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, was originally published in 2002. Booklist called it “[a] sensitive biography. . . . A remarkable story of an ordinary woman who did some extraordinary things.”

Before Sea Girt Light was established in 1896, there was a long stretch of more than 38 miles with no lighthouses on the New Jersey coast from the Navesink Twin Lights south to Barnegat Light. In addition to helping coastal maritime traffic, the lighthouse served to aid mariners entering Sea Girt Inlet and Wreck Pond. The design of Sea Girt Lighthouse is unusual for the New Jersey coast. It consists of a square, red brick tower rising 44 feet and attached to a keeper’s dwelling.

After World War II, an automatic light was mounted on top of the tower and the lighthouse was decommissioned. By 1980, the building was in a deteriorated state and was closed. An organization called the Sea Girt Citizens Committee was formed to save the lighthouse, and today it’s open to the public. Our guest today is Jude Meehan, who is the president of the Sea Girt Citizens Committee.

Co-hosting this episode are Heather Porter and her daughter, 11-year-old Guinevere, of Kentucky. Heather and Guin discuss their recent visit to New England to see lighthouses, including Portland Head, Nubble, and Goat Island in Kennebunkport, Maine.

This is an edited version of an interview that originally appeared in Light Hearted episode 25 in September 2019. Terry Rowden, a native of Michigan, served as a keeper at Little River Light Station in Cutler, Maine, for the U.S. Coast Guard from 1968 to 1970. Almost four decades later, when the Friends of Little River Lighthouse was founded as a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, Terry became a volunteer. For ten years, he has been the resident caretaker on the island.

Also taking part in the interview is Bob Trapani Jr., the executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The interview took place inside the keeper’s house at Little River.

Cape May Lighthouse stands at the southern tip of the state of New Jersey, on the north side of the entrance to Delaware Bay. The first lighthouse on the site was built in 1823, and the second in 1847. The locations of the first two lighthouses are now underwater. The extant 157-foot brick lighthouse began service in 1859.

The property is owned by the State of New Jersey and leased to the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities, known as MAC. The organization raises funds for preservation and opens the lighthouse to the public. Our guest today, Ben Ridings, is the curator for Cape May MAC.

Also in this episode is a report from Judianne Point on news from lighthouses in southern New England. Judianne is the first vice president of the American Lighthouse Foundation and an award-winning volunteer for Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse.

This installment features highlights from an interview that was originally recorded in March 2019. Matt Rosenberg is a high school English teacher and also the seasonal caretaker and modern day keeper of the famous Cape Neddick Light Station in York, better known as the Nubble Light.

The light station is owned by the Town of York and is managed by the town’s Parks and Recreation department. Around 500,000 thousand people each year come to Sohier Park in York to view the picturesque lighthouse across a narrow channel of water. Matt is among the privileged few people who actually have access to the island, where he is in charge of maintenance and cleanup from spring through fall.

Matt Rosenberg on Instagram

Matt Rosenberg on Facebook

The exhibits at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland, focus on maritime heritage and the natural history of the Chesapeake Bay. On the museum grounds is Drum Point Lighthouse, a cottage-style screw-pile structure that was originally located on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River.  The lighthouse was moved to its new home at the museum in 1975. The museum is also the steward for Cove Point Lighthouse, several miles to the northeast. Cove Point Lighthouse was built in 1828 and is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in the state. The six-bedroom former keepers’ house is available as a vacation rental. Today’s first guest, Kevin Allor, is an exhibits interpreter at the Calvert Marine Museum.

The Barnegat Light Museum in New Jersey is a former schoolhouse that houses exhibits on the history of the town of Barnegat Light, the fishing industry, and Long Beach Island. A highlight is the first-order Fresnel lens that once served in Barnegat Lighthouse. Our second guest today is Karen Larson, president of the Barnegat Light Historical Society.

This is an edited version of an interview first recorded in 2019 and appearing in Light Hearted episode 26. Eric Jay Dolin is the author of 14 books and dozens of articles on American history. The book that’s discussed in this interview is the acclaimed Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse, published in 2016.

C. Douglas Kroll, in Sea History Magazine, wrote of Brilliant Beacons: “A must-read for anyone interested in lighthouses or America’s maritime history…This history of American lighthouses is both engaging and enjoyable, whether for academics, who will not be disappointed in the thoroughness of the author’s research, or for lighthouse history buffs who will enjoy its compelling narrative.”

This conversation took place at Eric’s home in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Located in the inner harbor of Baltimore, Maryland, Historic Ships IN Baltimore celebrates more than 200 years of Maryland’s naval and maritime history. The site’s attractions include the sloop-of-war Constellation, the last sail-only warship designed and built by the United States Navy. Among the other highlights are the USS Torsk, a Navy submarine commissioned in 1944, and the 1936 U.S. Coast Guard Cutter 37.

For lighthouse and lightship buffs there are two historic attractions. The lightship LV116, also known as the Lightship Chesapeake, is a National Historic Landmark and one of a small number of preserved lightships in the U.S.

The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse is a screw-pile structure that began service in 1856 at the entrance to the Patapsco River, on the approach to Baltimore Harbor. The City of Baltimore had the structure moved to its new home on the city’s waterfront in 1988.

Alexa Price, today’s guest, is the public programs manager for Historic Ships in Baltimore.

Borden Flats Lighthouse in Fall River, Massachusetts, was bought in 2011 by Nick Korstad under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, and Nick fixed it up and opened it up to the public for overnight stays. In 2018, it was bought by Kevin Ferias, who has continued to operate it as a very successful B&B. It’s now for sale, which is discussed in this interview.

East Point Lighthouse began service in 1849 and is the second oldest lighthouse in New Jersey. The Maurice River Historical Society has managed the property for many years. They continue to fight an erosion problem, as well as an entanglement with the lease on the property from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Nancy Patterson, president of the Maurice River Historical Society, was last interviewed in episode 42 of this podcast. She provides an update in this interview.

Carol Connor of Noank, Connecticut, lives in a historic 1865 house in Noank, Connecticut. It also functions as a lighthouse, built by Carol and her husband 38 years ago.