The Lighthouse Lowdown

We are headed to Ireland, where the grass is green, the beer is Guinness, and the lighthouses are OLD! With a history that goes back to the 1600s, Baily Lighthouse's lens has seen some deadly shipwrecks and beautiful weddings!

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References:

1. https://www.lighthousedigest.com/digest/StoryPage.cfm?StoryKey=430
2. https://curiousireland.ie/the-baily-lighthouse-howth-co-dublin/
3. https://www.mariner.ie/Exhibition/the-baily-optic/
4. Gustaf Dalén - Wikipedia
5. https://www.earlscliffe.com/history/howth/baily-lighthouse.php
6. Sounding the Sumburgh Foghorn

While there used to be four Green Island Lighthouses in Nova Scotia, a couple renamings left us with two. Listen in as we cover a lighthouse that was a fog station much longer than a light station and another that had four tower variations in its lifetime.

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References:

1. Gun-Cotton- It's History, Manufacture, Use | Lieutenant Karl Rohrer July 1889
2. Green Island (Chebogue Point) Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
3. Green Island Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
4. Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society

Ahoy everyone! The Lighthouse Lowdown is back!

We are continuing with our Green Island series, this time traveling to Western Canada where you may spot a beautiful white and red light station on a lone island in the most dangerous body of water on Canada shores.

Also known locally as Goat Island Lighthouse, Newport Harbor Lighthouse was extended out onto a breakwater with its original tower being used in Prudence Island. The lighthouse and its city go all out for the holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Lighthouse Lowdown! We will be back in 2026.

References:

1. The Cutters, Boats, and Aircraft of the US Coast Guard
2. Newport Harbor Lighthouse Christmas Lighting Event
3. Newport Harbor Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
4. Keeper's Log Spring 2016 | USLHS

We are continuing our Green Island series with this Wisconsin gem, which had survived two explosions and a devastating forest fire, but ultimately succumbed to time.

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References:

1. Doomsday List | Lighthouse Digest
2. Green Island Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
3. Private Islands Inc.

We are starting a fun series with the Green Island Lighthouses of the world, starting with Ohio! It's not often you hear of a lighthouse that burns down twice, and unfortunately this history has put our light on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List.

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References:

1. Green Island Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
2. Green Island Light Station | USLHS Archives

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank November 10th, 1975. Gordon Lightfoot's song brought it to posterity in 1976, and we've been talking about it since. Listen in as Vince does a solo-episode about the infamous ship, wreck, and song!

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References:

1. Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
2. The Cruelest Month - Edmund Fitzgerald Newsweek, November 24, 1975 | PDF | Water Transport | Violence
3. TIL Gordon Lightfoot was inspired to write "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" when he saw the name misspelled as "Edmond" in Newsweek magazine. He felt the misspelling dishonored the memory of the 29 men who died when the freighter sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10, 1975. : r/todayilearned
4. SS Edmund Fitzgerald - Wikipedia
5. #105 - Marine casualty report : SS Edmund Fitzgerald; sinking in Lake ... - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library

Like most beachy lighthouses, Point Betsie battled shifting sands for its whole lifetime, now shielded by at least three methods of erosion control to keep the light shining! Point Betsie Lighthouse is a standing testament to what a community can do (whether that's saving a lighthouse, building a road, or saving lives) when they work together.

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References:

1. Point Betsie Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
2. Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse
3. Annual Reports of the Lighthouse Board| National Archives and Records Administration

Although this was the last lighthouse built in Connecticut, it is the first for us to cover in the state, and the first we've covered that skipped straight to 200 Watt bulbs! Avery Point Lighthouse was built by the Coast Guard in 1944 as a part of their training center, later becoming a physics laboratory for the University of Connecticut.

Thank you to all who left us reviews! Merch (and a giveaway) is coming your way.

References:

1. Avery Point Light | American Lighthouse Foundation
2. Avery Point Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
3. Avery Point | USLHS
4. Avery Point Light | Wikipedia

Listener Lighthouse! I'm trying to think of a lighthouse where I have this hard of a time saying it's name out loud... Regardless, Crisp Point Lighthouse was close neighbors with a Life-Saving Station, along with three others built along "Shipwreck Coast" in 1876. This red-capped light still shines today as a private ATON.

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References:

1. Crisp Point Light Historical Society
2. Crisp Point Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
3. Light Lists | Navigational Center USCG