Light Hearted

Join hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson. First up is part two of an interview with Chad Kaiser, general manager of the New Dungeness Light Station in Sequim, Washington. Chad is also a lighthouse preservationist and one of only a handful of qualified lampists in the country who are approved by the U.S. Coast Guard to work on historic Fresnel lighthouses lenses. It’s Chad’s work as a lampist and preservationist that is discussed in today’s interview.

In the history segment we learn more about William Converse Williams, longtime keeper of bleak and isolated Boon Island Lighthouse off the southern Maine coast in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When he retired, author Robert Thayer Sterling observed of Williams, “To walk about his front yard without risk of being washed into the sea is a pleasure, and with that comes contentment.”

Next we travel down the East Coast to South Carolina, where for the past two years, Friends of Hunting Island State Park have been hosting tours of the Hunting Island Lighthouse and the other light station buildings at Hunting Island State Park in Beaufort. Ted Panayotoff runs the public tours at Hunting Island Lighthouse, and they are discussed in today’s interview.

Host Jeremy D’Entremont is joined by co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw. When Russ Rowlett was growing up in Richmond, Virginia, his only exposure to lighthouses was climbing the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse when his family vacationed at Virginia Beach.

Russ started his web site, The Lighthouse Directory, in 1999, and it kept growing until, by 2009, it covered the whole world. It’s one of the most useful lighthouse information sites on the Internet, and Russ is the first guest on this episode of Light Hearted.

Bob Muller was the founding president of the Long Island Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society in New York. He has been involved in lighthouse research, education, lecturing, and preservation for twenty years. In this first installment of The (non-political) Muller Report, Bob updates us on the restoration efforts for Stepping Stones Lighthouse, the westernmost lighthouse in Long Island Sound, a project in which Bob has been personally involved.

In a history segment, Michelle and Jeremy relate the story of Willie Williams, longtime (1883-1911) keeper of Maine’s remote Boon Island Light Station, who said in retirement: “There were days when I first went on the station that I could not get away from the idea that I was the same as locked up in a cell.”

The next interview is Jeff Zappen, who retired in December 2018 after 28 years as a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. Jeff is still working for the Coast Guard as a Waterways Management Specialist in Port Orchard, Washington. Jeremy interviewed Jeff during a visit to the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s headquarters in Hansville, Washington, last January. The conversation involves the evolving nature of the Coast Guard’s role with America’s lighthouses and other aids to navigation.

This is a special edition of Light Hearted in honor of National Lighthouse Day, August 7. It was on this date in 1789 that the first Congress approved an act for the establishment and support of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers.

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the signing of that act and the commissioning of the first federal lighthouse, Congress passed a resolution that designated August 7, 1989, as National Lighthouse Day.

On that day in 1989, Light Hearted host Jeremy D’Entremont attended and recorded a celebration at Portland Head Light Station in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Not only was that gathering an observance of National Lighthouse Day, it also marked the automation of Portland Head Lighthouse and the transfer of the last two Coast Guard light keepers in the state of Maine, as well as the leasing of the light station property to the Town of Cape Elizabeth.

This special edition includes audio excerpts from that 1989 celebration: Rear Admiral Richard Rybacki of the Coast Guard, Senator George Mitchell of Maine, and lighthouse historian F. Ross Holland. Also featured is an audio clip of Connie Small, author of the classic book The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife.

The city of South Portland, with a bit over 25,000 people, is the fourth-largest city in Maine. It is situated on Portland Harbor and looks out onto the islands of Casco Bay. South Portland is home to two lighthouses and is close to several others. The Cushing’s Point Museum, adjacent to Bug Light Park, the location of Portland Breakwater Lighthouse, has been home to the South Portland Historical Society since 2009. Just down the street is Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, a “sparkplug light” that is sometimes open for public tours.

In this episode of “Light Hearted,” host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo, executive director of the South Portland Historical Society and curator of the Cushing’s Point Museum; Art Greene, chairman of the Spring Point Ledge Light Trust; and Jack Roberts of the Rotary Club of South Portland and Cape Elizabeth. Jack has spearheaded the preservation of Portland Breakwater Lighthouse for nearly 30 years.

Jeremy is joined by a special guest co-host, filmmaker Rob Apse.

The U.S. Lighthouse Society’s domestic and international group tours are developed to maximize lighthouse touring, but also to help provide better understanding of the culture and communities in which the lighthouses are located. The proceeds from each trip are directed to supporting the society’s mission of lighthouse preservation and education. In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Chris Brookes, a volunteer tour planner and leader.

Built in 1879, the Cape Neddick Light Station in York, Maine, is on a small rocky island known as the Nubble and is best known to the public as the Nubble Light. Visitors drive to Sohier Park in York to view the lighthouse and other buildings across a narrow channel of water. Close to half a million people come to see it each year. Matt Rosenberg is an English teacher and also the seasonal caretaker for Sohier Park and the Nubble Lighthouse. Matt is also the supervisor of a student organization known as the York Youth Lighthouse Preservation Association, or YYLPA.

“Light Hearted” host Jeremy D’Entremont interviewed Matt Rosenberg and YYLPA President Rachel Carr for this episode.

Jeremy and his special guest co-host, filmmaker Rob Apse, introduce a special offer in the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s online gift shop. And Rob and Jeremy discuss ways of getting young people interested in lighthouse preservation.

In the third and final episode for “Florida Week,” Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Josh Liller, Historian and Collections Manager for the Loxahatchee River Historical Society and Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum. Josh gives numerous presentations related to local history in the Jupiter area throughout the year.

Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse is in Jupiter, Florida, on Florida’s east coast. The 108-foot brick tower was designed by Lieutenant George Meade of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers and went into service in 1860. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum, operated by the nonprofit Loxahatchee River Historical Society, offers climbing tours of the tower, and the museum features 5000 years of local history.

In the history segment, Jeremy and co-host Cindy Johnson discuss the vital 1843 report to Congress by the civil engineer I. W. P. Lewis that led to the restructuring of the nation’s lighthouse administration. And there’s another trivia contest with prizes to be given away.

Join hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson for the second of three “Florida Week” episodes. At 175 feet tall, Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in the state and the third tallest in the United States. It became a national historic landmark in 1998. John Mann is the Lead Docent for on-site tours and community outreach, and educational programs advisor for the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. Felipe De Paula is the registrar and assistant curator. Jeremy interviewed them both during a recent visit.

In the history segment, Cindy and Jeremy discuss Augustin-Jean Fresnel, the brilliant French civil engineer and physicist who is best remembered for the invention in the 1820s of a type of lens that increased the visibility of lighthouses and saved countless lives. There’s also another trivia contest with a chance to win prizes.

Join hosts Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson for the first of three episodes for Florida Week! In 1824, the first lighthouse in Florida was built at St. Augustine, at the site of an earlier watchtower. Today’s 165-foot-tall brick tower, built in 1874, is a major attraction on Florida’s east coast.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum has a mission to “discover, preserve, present, and keep alive the stories of the nation’s oldest port.” Rick Cain is Director of Museum Services, and Jay Smith is Office Manager and Executive and Governance Support Manager. Jeremy interviewed Rick and Jay during a visit to St. Augustine in May.

The lighthouse history segment focuses on Winslow Lewis and his monopoly on American lighthouse lighting equipment from 1810 into the 1840s. And there’s another trivia contest and a chance to win prizes. There will be two more “Florida Week” episodes this week.

Jeremy D’Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw co-host the third and final episode for Cape Cod week. Jeremy interviews Gary Childs, chairman of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The chapter manages three lighthouses in Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape. The focus of the interview is Race Point Light Station, which was the subject of an amazing restoration in the 1990s and is open for overnight stays.

Michelle and Jeremy discuss early lighthouse technology—specifically, the various kinds of illuminants and apparatus that were used in the early days of lighthouses, before the important invention of the Fresnel lens in the 1820s.

And there’s another trivia question with a chance for listeners to win prizes.

Join host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw for the second of three “Cape Cod Week” episodes. Jeremy interviews Betsy Richards, president of the Nauset Light Preservation Society, and Hawkins Conrad, who was the group’s first president in its formative days in the 1990s.

Michelle and Jeremy discuss more of the early history of the oldest lighthouse on the North American continent, Boston Light in Boston Harbor, including the 1719 fog cannon.

And there’s a trivia contest; the first two listeners to get the right answers will win prizes. Congratulations to Dwight Berry and Olivia Bell, winners of the trivia contest in the last episode. The question was — “What was the name of the male slave who lived at Boston Light with the first keeper?” And the answer was Shadwell.