Light Hearted

It’s Cape Cod Week on Light Hearted! In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews John Geurtsen, vice commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 11-1, which serves the Cape Cod area. John is involved with the public tours of Chatham Lighthouse, and that is what he discussed with Jeremy.

Jeremy and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw travel a bit north of the Cape for the history segment, which covers the early history of the first lighthouse on the North American continent, Boston Light.

Listen for the trivia question for a chance to win the book Lighthouses of America or a Lighthouse Passport. Later this week there will be episodes featuring representatives of the Cape Cod lighthouses at Race Point in Provincetown and Nauset Light Beach in Eastham.

In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Paul St. Germain, author/historian and president of the nonprofit Thacher Island Association, about recent progress at Straitsmouth Island Light Station off Rockport on Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Tremendous strides have been made in the restoration of the property, which will soon be accessible to the public. Jeremy and co-host Cindy Johnson continue the exploration of the history of England’s famous Eddystone Light, with a look at the construction of the present (1882) tower, designed by James Douglass. There’s also a discussion of the origins of the famous song The Eddystone Light, with a rendition by the Irish/folk duo Shannachie. And there’s a trivia question with prizes to the first two correct people to answer correctly.

Host Jeremy D’Entremont interviews Annie C. Harris, director of Essex Heritage. The non-profit organization promotes the cultural heritage of Essex County, Massachusetts, and owns the Bakers Island Light Station in Salem. The station consists of an 1820 lighthouse tower, two keepers’ houses, and outbuildings. Through Essex Heritage, tours of the historic light station are available, and also overnight stays.

In the history segment, Jeremy and co-host Cindy Johnson continue the saga of the lighthouses on the Eddystone Rocks off Plymouth, England, with the story of Rudyard’s 1709 tower and Smeaton’s 1759 tower, which represented a major step forward in the construction of wave-swept lighthouses.

Jeremy and Cindy then discuss the 1959 horror film The Monster of Piedras Blancas, which was shot largely at California’s Point Conception Light Station. Jeremy recalls a phone interview with one of the movie’s stars, Jeanne Carmen.

In the latest episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw discuss the first tower on the Eddystone Rocks off Plymouth, England, designed by the colorful showman Henry Winstanley and completed in 1698.

The feature interview is with Casey Moulton of the Braddock Point Lighthouse on the south shore of Lake Ontario, in Hilton, New York, a few miles northwest of Rochester. The magnificent Victorian keeper’s house is operated as a bed and breakfast inn.

There’s also a trivia question with prizes to the first two people to get the correct answer.

Jeremy D’Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw come to you from the Portsmouth Public Library. The feature interview is with Nick Korstad, owner of the Big Bay Point Lighthouse B&B in Michigan. Prior to purchasing Big Bay Point Lighthouse, Nick bought and restored Borden Flats Lighthouse in Fall River, Massachusetts, a project for which he was featured on several national TV shows and received a “Keeper of the Light” award from the American Lighthouse Foundation.

The history segment is all about the Cordouan Lighthouse in France, which was built between 1584 and 1611. Not only is it the oldest lighthouse in France and one of the oldest in the world, but it’s the tenth tallest masonry lighthouse in the world at 223 feet. It’s been called the Lighthouse of Kings and the Versailles of the Sea.

Also featured is an interview with Erin Corra, founder and executive director of the Friends of Lime Kiln Society. The organization manages Washington’s Lime Kiln Lighthouse, which is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary with a big event on June 30.

Join host jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson at New Hampshire’s Exeter Inn as they discuss the Kõpu Lighthouse on the Estonian Island of Hiiumaa, originally built in 1531. It’s the third oldest operating lighthouse in the world.

The featured interview is with Anne E. Witsenburg of Monumentsfund Aruba, the organization that manages the California Lighthouse near the northern tip of the island. The recently restored lighthouse, which is more than 100 years old, is open to the public all year.

There’s another trivia question with prizes going to the first two people to answer correctly.

There will be two or three episodes of “Light Hearted” released per week for a few more weeks. Beginning the week of July 22, there will be one episode per week (on Mondays), with occasional special additional episodes.

In episode five of Light Hearted, host Jeremy D’Entremont and co-host Cindy Johnson discuss the Hook Lighthouse in Ireland in the history segment. There’s also the usual trivia question with prizes.

The featured interview is with Bob Trapani, Jr. Since 2005, Bob has served as the executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation, a nonprofit organization with its headquarters in the historic keeper’s house of the Owls Head Lighthouse in Maine. Bob and Jeremy had the chance to sit down for a chat in the keeper’s house at Owls Head this past December, and the conversation ranged from the challenges of preservation to the technology of modern aids to navigation.

In this installment of Light Hearted, we meet Ben Swan and Gigi Lirot of Whitehead Light Station, on an 80-acre island in Midcoast Maine. Whitehead offers three-to-five-day programs that focus on a variety of subjects and activities taught by an instructor. Ben Swan is the executive director, and Gigi Lirot is the island manager for Whitehead Light Station.

Host Jeremy D’Entremont also interviews Catherine Bumpus, a lifelong sailor who is the executive director of the Friends of Nobska Light in Woods Hole on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Friends are working to complete restoration and to open a museum on the site. Nobska is one of the iconic lighthouses of Cape Cod.

In the history segment, Jeremy and co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw discuss the Tower of Hercules, also known as La Coruña Lighthouse, in Spain. It is considered the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world.

As usual, there’s also a trivia question with prizes going out to the first two people to answer correctly.

The entire content of this special edition of Light Hearted is an interview with Eric S. Martin, who is president of the Florida Keys Reef Lights Foundation and a board member of the Florida Lighthouse Association.

The conversation ranges from the history of the Florida Reef lights and the difficulties involved with their preservation, to the current auction that holds the fate of Sand Key Lighthouse in the balance. Eric, who lives far inland in Orlando, Florida, also talks about how he got so involved in lighthouse preservation.

This special edition serves as kind of a preview for a week of three Florida-related episodes that will be released the week of July 15. The lighthouses focused on that week will be St. Augustine, Ponce Inlet, and Jupiter Inlet.

In this episode, host Jeremy D’Entremont is joined by co-host Michelle Jewell Shaw of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses , recent winner of a volunteerism award from the American Lighthouse Foundation. The lighthouse history segment focuses on the ancient Roman lighthouse in Dover, England, and the ruins of the Roman lighthouse at Leptis Magna in Libya. And once again, there’s a trivia question with prizes going out to the first two listeners who get the answer right.

The feature interview is with Dolly Bicknell, president of Project Gurnet and Bug Lights, the organization that cares for Plymouth (Gurnet) Lighthouse and Duxbury Pier (Bug) Lighthouse in Massachusetts. Dolly is also the daughter of the famed historian Edward Rowe Snow, and she was recently the recipient of a “Keeper of the Light” award from the American Lighthouse Foundation.