Light Hearted

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse is probably the best-known lighthouse in Maryland, and it has many distinctions. It’s the last surviving screwpile lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay, and it’s one of the few lighthouses in the United States to be designated a National Historic Landmark. It’s weathered many storms but it’s now in need of help.

John Potvin is a member of the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society. He has been a volunteer at Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse for several years. As the preservation foreman, he is actively involved in the bidding and specification preparation for the rehabilitation of the lighthouse, as well as coordinating volunteer schedules and tasks.

In this episode of Light Hearted, host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw also look at the origins and history of screwpile lighthouses, which were developed by the Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell.

Anyone interested in volunteering at Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse can email John Potvin at [email protected]

GoFundMe page for Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

U.S. Lighthouse Society site for Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

Featured in this episode of Light Hearted is an interview with Scott Brown, president of Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse. In 1882, Congress appropriated $20,000 for a lighthouse on Little Cormorant Rock at the entrance to Rhode Island’s Sakonnet River, near Little Compton. Sakonnet Point Lighthouse is a typical offshore “sparkplug” lighthouse of its period. The hurricanes of 1938 and 1954 damaged the structure, and the last Coast Guard keepers were removed.  Coast Guard officials decided to discontinue the light.

The General Services Administration sold the property at auction in September 1961. A preservation effort began when the Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse was formed in 1984.

With funding from the federal Transportation Enhancement Program combined with privately raised funds, a thorough restoration was completed in 2012.

Also in this episode, hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson detail the dramatic story of what happened at Sakonnet in the hurricane of September 21, 1938–the worst hurricane in recorded New England history. Keeper William Durfee, one of two men trapped in the lighthouse during the storm, wrote, “We gave up and wrapped ourselves in blankets . . . wondering when the wind would shift and quiet the sea down so we could get outside to look around. . . . And we were surprised when we looked to the point and saw that everything had been washed away.”

With its harbor at the mouth of the Pequonnock River, Bridgeport, Connecticut, became a center of trade, shipbuilding, and whaling. This episode of Light Hearted features two interviews related to the history of lighthouses in the vicinity of Bridgeport, with Bruce Williams and Phil Blagys.

Captain’s Cove Seaport is a major attraction in Bridgeport, with a marina, restaurant, bar, fishing charters, and more. Bruce Williams is the son of Kaye Williams, founder of Captain’s Cove Seaport. Bruce is also a historian of the local area and the co-author of the book Bridgeport on the Sound.

Bridgeport’s Black Rock Harbor is sheltered by Fayerweather Island, which made the island an ideal place for a lighthouse to mark the harbor entrance. The island’s longtime nineteenth century keeper, Kate Moore, was credited with saving at least 21 lives. The lighthouse received a recent facelift thanks to the efforts of the City of Bridgeport and the Black Rock Community Council. Phil Blagys is a past president of the Black Rock Community Council and chair of the Black Rock Community Council History Program.

In 1864 the Elbow Reef Light Station went into service at Hope Town, a small settlement on Elbow Cay, one of the barrier islands off Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. The lens and rotation equipment, made in the early 1900s by Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England, is still in place today. The fuel is kerosene and the lens rotates on a mercury float. The keeper on duty has to wind up the weights that rotate the lens every two hours.

Bahamian Lighthouses have been operated by the Port Department of The Bahamas since independence from Great Britain in 1973. The traditional hand-powered technology in the Elbow Reef Lighthouse is maintained by the Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society. The buildings at the Elbow Reef Light Station, as well as the surrounding Hope Town community, were devastated by Hurricane Dorian at the beginning of September.

Annie Potts is the U.S.-based member of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society team. She is also the author of the book Last Lights: The Hand-Wound Lighthouses of The Bahama Islands. As the U.S. liaison for the society, Annie helps with the historical and structural restoration aspects of the Elbow Reef Light Station.

To donate to the Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society and to help with their recovery from Hurricane Dorian, you can send a donation to:

Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society

c/o Annie Potts

700 SW 31st Street

Palm City, FL 34990

Or you can donate $250 or more to PERC — let them you know you want the donation to go to the Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society.

The Flying Santa tradition goes back to December 25, 1929, when a floatplane pilot, William Wincapaw of Friendship, Maine, loaded his plane with a dozen packages. He flew to lighthouses around the Midcoast Maine area and dropped the modest gifts for lighthouse families as a way of showing his appreciation for the work they were doing. In the mid-1930s, Edward Rowe Snow, a schoolteacher, maritime historian, and author in Winthrop, Massachusetts, became involved in the flights. Snow would eventually become the sole Flying Santa, and he kept the flights going through 1980, flying to as many as 176 lighthouses.

The Hull Lifesaving Museum on Boston’s South Shore kept the tradition alive for a while, and then the Friends of Flying Santa was formed as a separate nonprofit organization in 1997. The Friends’ mission remains dedicated to Captain William Wincapaw and Edward Rowe Snow’s philosophy that lighthouse keepers and Coast Guard crews were true lifesavers and deserved to be recognized for their efforts.

Friends of Flying Santa strives to continue this tradition of appreciation by carrying on the annual Christmas helicopter flights to lighthouses and Coast Guard stations. Today’s helicopter visits and gifts for the children are small tokens of appreciation for the outstanding work of the United States Coast Guard and their supportive families.

Brian Tague has been involved with the Flying Santa program since the late 1980s, and he serves as the president of Friends of Flying Santa. Brian is also an accomplished photographer who specializes in wildlife, aerials, and scenic work.

The jagged ledge known as Whaleback lurks menacingly on the northeast side of the entrance to the Piscataqua River. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the Piscataqua, was established as an important port for shipbuilding and trade before the American Revolution, and wrecks occurred around the ledges at mouth of the river with sickening regularity. The first lighthouse built on the ledge in 1830 was poorly built, but it lasted 42 years and has been cited as the first successful wave-swept lighthouse in the United States.

The granite tower that still stands on the ledge today was completed in 1872. The light was automated and the station was destaffed in early 1963. Among the last Coast Guard keepers was Jim Pope, a local Maine native who was one of the crew from 1960 to 1962. He went on to a long career as a tugboat captain.

Jim is a bit of a local legend who has made a number of appearances at events for Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses. Most of this episode is an interview recorded with Jim at the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum a few months ago, with special thanks to Kim Sanborn and videographer Jim White.

A Keeper’s Letter from Whaleback Lighthouse, 1957

Pigeon Point Lighthouse is tied for the tallest lighthouse tower in California at 115 feet, and it’s a favorite of sightseers and photographers. In September of this year, California State Parks officials announced that more than $9 million in state funding will go to the lighthouse for a major renovation that will take place over the next two years.

Light Hearted host Jeremy D’Entremont recently spoke with Linda Hitchcock and Joe Rogers of the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Linda is managing the restoration project at the district level. Joe is the lead person for the Pigeon Point Interpretive Program, and he is responsible for coordinating the volunteer program at the park. The conversations with Linda and Joe detail the upcoming restoration work as well as what visitors to this spectacular site can expect now and during the planned work projects.

Also featured is a segment with Jeremy and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw chronicling the history of the first lighthouse on the West Coast, on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. In recent years the U.S. Lighthouse Society has been working with the National Park Service and the U.S. Coast Guard for the restoration of Alcatraz Lighthouse.

This is a special edition of Light Hearted, devoted to a discussion of the movie The Lighthouse.

The Lighthouse is directed and produced by Robert Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Max Eggers. Shot in black-and-white, the film follows two lighthouse keepers (portrayed by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) who start to lose their sanity when a storm hits the remote island on which they are stationed. Although the exact setting and time period is not specified, it is apparently an island on the Maine coast in the late 1800s. The film was shot on Cape Forchu on the south coast of Nova Scotia.

The first part of this podcast episode is a discussion between hosts Michelle Jewell Shaw, Cindy Johnson, and Jeremy D’Entremont. This second part is a discussion between Jeremy D’Entremont and former lighthouse keeper Chris Mills.

Chris Mills is a former lighthouse keeper at 11 different light stations in three provinces on both the east and west coasts of Canada. He was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society, and he has authored two books: Vanishing Lights and Lighthouse Legacies: Stories of Nova Scotia’s Lightkeeping Families. Chris lives in Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia. He works for the Canadian Coast Guard as a deckhand on a lifeboat. He’s also had a career as a radio DJ and news announcer.

This podcast is devoted to lighthouses and lightships, but today’s episode takes a slight detour to a related subject. The U.S. Lifesaving Service is sometimes referred to as a sister service to the Lighthouse Service.

Wood Island is a small island about a quarter of a mile inside the mouth of the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine. In the late 1800s, a quarantine hospital was located on the island. A lifesaving station was built on the island in late 1907. The architectural style of the station on Wood Island was the “Duluth Style.” Following World War II, the Coast Guard relocated their operations for Portsmouth Harbor to a new station in New Castle, New Hampshire.

The property on Wood Island languished for six decades and demolition was seriously considered. But in recent years a nonprofit organization, the Wood Island Life Saving Station Association, has been working on a miraculous restoration. Restoration of the exterior of the building and grounds is almost finished and restoration of the interior is progressing quickly. The ultimate plan is for the site to be open to the public as a maritime museum.

“Light Hearted” host Jeremy D’Entremont recently had an in-depth conversation with Sam Reid, Kittery resident and president of the Wood Island Life Saving Station Association. Sam has been the spearhead of the amazing restoration on Wood Island. The interview makes up most of the content of this episode of Light Hearted.

The first lightship in the United States was established at Chesapeake Bay in 1820, and the total number in the U.S. peaked in 1909 with 56 locations marked. From 1820 until 1983, there were 179 lightships built for the U.S. government. The official use of lightships for navigation in the United States ended in 1985. It’s estimated that there are 15 United States lightships left in existence today. Some are in museums and others are in private hands.

The Lightship Chesapeake is a museum ship owned by the National Park Service and operated by Historic Ships in Baltimore. Greg Krawczyk, lead maintenance volunteer for the Lightship Chesapeake since 2006 and program coordinator for the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society, is the featured interview in this episode of Light Hearted.

In a special segment in honor of Halloween, hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw tell the tragic tale of Keeper Fred Jordan of Penfield Reef Lighthouse in Fairfield, Connecticut. Jordan drowned on December 22, 1916, as he tried to go ashore in rough seas to visit his family for Christmas. Since then, other keepers at the lighthouse and visitors have witnessed much unusual activity. “Something comes here, that we are positive,” said Keeper Rudolph Iten. “There is an old saying, ‘What the Reef takes, the Reef will give back.’”