Light Hearted

The lighthouse that stands at the end of the long spit of land known as Sandy Hook, on the approach to New York Harbor, began service in 1764, making it the oldest standing lighthouse tower in the United States. The octagonal rubblestone tower stands 103 feet tall.

The light remains active, with the Fresnel lens still in place. Ownership was transferred to the National Park Service in 1996, and the lighthouse is now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. The tower is open seasonally, and there’s a visitor center in the former keepers’ house. In 1964, Sandy Hook became one of the small number of lighthouses designated a National Historic landmark.

Tom Hoffman, our guest today, is the historian for the Gateway National Recreation Area. He’s also the author of the book Fort Hancock, published by Arcadia Publishing. His association with Sandy Hook goes back 50 years.

Horton Point Lighthouse is on the north side of eastern Long Island, New York, in the area known as the North Fork. The granite and brick building consists of a two floor keeper’s dwelling attached to a square, 59-foot-tall lighthouse tower. The building was nearly demolished after World War II, but the Southold Historical Society and the Southold Park District commission stepped in to save it. Today, the lighthouse is a popular tourist attraction.

There are three guests in today’s episode. Deanna Witte-Walker is the executive director of the Southold Historical Museum. Ray Nofi is a co-chair of the lighthouse committee. Mary Korpi is a volunteer for the lighthouse and a Southold Historical Museum Trustee. She’s also the author of the book The Lady Lighthouse Keeper, a historical novel based on the life of Horton Point’s only female keeper, Stella Prince.

Located in the historic shipbuilding city of Bath, Maine, the Maine Maritime Museum includes exhibits dedicated to the past, present, and future of Maine’s storied waterways. For lighthouse buffs, there’s an exhibit called “Into the Lantern: A Lighthouse Experience.” Opening this past February, the exhibit “Lost and Found: Sounds of the Maine Coast” is a collaboration between sound artist Dianne Ballon and the Maine Maritime Museum.

The exhibit looks at navigational warning systems from buoys to foghorns, past and present. It investigates the idea of lost and found maritime sounds and invites visitors to reflect on how sound affects our individual and collective memory. Interviewed in this episode are Catherine Cyr, associate curator of the Maine Maritime Museum, and sound artist Dianne Ballon, who is the creative mind behind the new exhibit.

This is part two of a two part interview with Wayne and Sally Wheeler, recorded in Washington state in March 2024. Wayne is a former Coast Guard officer who founded the U.S. Lighthouse Society in San Francisco in 1984, and he is now the president emeritus of the Society.

The idea for the formation of the Society blossomed when Wayne became the chief of the Aids to Navigation Branch for northern California. Most of the inquiries the Coast Guard’s public affairs staff was receiving involved lighthouses—and Wayne had the knowledge and the books to answer them. He developed a lecture about lighthouses, and one day he went home to his wife, Sally, and said, “Boy, there’s a lot of lighthouse enthusiasts out there. They ought to get organized.” And 40 years ago, the United States Lighthouse Society was born.

The name Wayne Wheeler has become synonymous with lighthouse preservation and education. He’s one of the pioneers of the lighthouse preservation movement and one of the foremost experts on lighthouse history in the U.S. A 1962 graduate of Syracuse University, Wayne spent 23 years in the Coast Guard in the aids to navigation field. In the early 1980s, when he was the chief of the Coast Guard’s aids to navigation branch in northern California, questions involving lighthouses were always being forwarded to him. As a result, the United States Lighthouse Society came into being in 1984.

Wayne received the Heritage Award from the Foundation of Coast Guard History for creating the United States Lighthouse Society, and the American Lighthouse Coordinating Committee presented him with the H. Ross Holland Lifetime achievement Award in 2004. Today, Wayne is the president emeritus of the Society. Wayne’s wife, Sally, also takes part in this interview, which was recorded in Washington state in March 2024.

Also featured is a new segment on news from the lighthouses of southern New England, with Judianne Point.

Edward Peppitt is the southeast England representative for the Association of Lighthouse Keepers, or ALK, and he produces and hosts a podcast called Keeping Watch. He’s also a fundraising ambassador for Shift MS, a charity aimed at keeping multiple sclerosis sufferers as active as possible.

Ed has written a new book called The Beacon Bike. It tells the incredible story of his 3,500-mile bicycle ride to explore the lighthouses around the coast of England and Wales, proving that a diagnosis of MS doesn’t mean giving up on a lifelong dream. Ed’s bike ride took him to 327 lighthouses over 100 days.

Emily Straight, who is the regular co-host of the Lighthouse Lowdown podcast, co-hosts this episode.

The Coast Guard Museum Northwest, located on an active Coast Guard base on the waterfront in Seattle, Washington, opened in 1976. The museum serves as a showcase for some of the Coast Guard’s most important stories, lessons, and accomplishments, and the museum’s extensive archives are available to researchers.

The guest in this episode, Gene Davis, was the planning officer for the Coast Guard district and helped launch the museum in 1976. Gene had also been instrumental in setting up Base Seattle when the Coast Guard took over the site from the Army. After retiring as a captain from the Coast Guard in 1978, he went to work at the museum. For the past 45 years, he has given tours and done research for countless numbers of people.

In 2012, Gene Davis was awarded the Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award for his many years of dedication.

Chad Kaiser, general manager of New Dungeness Light Station and a certified lampist, takes part in this interview.

The guest in this episode, Tony Ashdon, spent 22 years in the Coast Guard including some time as a lighthouse keeper. Tony spent some years on an aids to navigation team that serviced lighthouses and other aids in District One, in the northeastern U.S. He was also part of an inspection team for a while.

He spent a few years as the keeper of the old Deer Island Light in Boston Harbor, a spark plug type lighthouse that no longer stands, and also some time at Plymouth, or Gurnet Light, in Massachusetts. Tony is also an accomplished model boat builder.

This interview was facilitated by John Lopez of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. John also takes part in the interview, which was conducted at Tony Ashdon’s home in Rockport, Massachusetts.

Right: This painting of Deer Island Lighthouse in Boston Harbor was done by Tony Ashdon’s wife, Margo.

The podcast “The Lighthouse Lowdown” was launched in 2022 by two residents of Kansas City, Missouri, Emily Straight and Vince Bailey. To date they have published almost 50 episodes, covering history, spooky stories, and all the “things that make lighthouses cooler than your average tower.”

Emily is a nautical-loving, lighthouse enthusiast who is excited to spread the word of wicked sea sentinel stories. She is a chemical engineer, and a stained glass artist on the side. Vince is a mechanical engineer and Emily’s partner in crime. In this wide ranging conversation with Light Hearted host Jeremy D’Entremont, topics include the appeal of coastal culture to two people in the middle of the country, past and future visits to historic lighthouses, and how we can get young people interested in the subject.

Left: Emily podcasting from Currituck Beach Lighthouse in North Carolina.

The Michigan Lighthouse Alliance (MLA), founded in 2003, encompasses more than 50 preservation groups and lighthouse stakeholders from around the state of Michigan. The purpose of the Alliance is to advocate for the preservation of the historic aids to navigation on the Great Lakes. The MLA holds a conference every two years, and this year’s will be April 21st to 23rd in Port Huron, Michigan.

Our guest in this episode, Buzz Hoerr, is the president and co-founder of the Michigan Lighthouse Alliance. Buzz is also the founder and chair for the Harbor Beach Lighthouse Preservation Society, which has worked to preserve an 1885 lighthouse on the shore of Lake Huron. In 2015, Buzz received the Richard L.  Moehl Award for Excellence in Volunteerism from the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association.