The Lighthouse Lowdown

Like most inlets in eastern Florida, Hillsboro Inlet's waters were filled with wrecked ships. But it wasn't until 1907 that a lighthouse was built there, sturdy enough to withstand hurricanes, shifting sands, and the ocean waves. Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse was home to some of the best lighthouse keepers the US had to offer, and still shines brightly today with it's original Fresnel lens in its lantern room!

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References:

1. Thank you Ralph Krugler!!
2. Cap's Place Island Restaurant
3. Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
4. Reef Locator
5. Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse Website

While we cover Walton Lighthouse as our history buoy this time, the meat of this episode covers mercury floats! How did they work? Why were they implemented? Did they really have a negative effect on keepers? Listen in as we answer all these questions and more!

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References:

1. Santa Cruz Breakwater | Lighthouse Friends
2. Santa Cruz Breakwater Light | Wikipedia
3. Lights with Mercury Floats | USLHS
4. Lens Rotation | USLHS
5. Mercury Float Rotation by James Woodward
6. Mercury + Aluminum Reaction | Reddit

Vince takes us to sunny Mexico to look at a golf course that is blessed with not one, but two lighthouses on the tip of the Baja California Sur. While the area beckons with it's pristine golf courses and resorts, the real treasure are the lighthouses hundreds of feet above the thrashing surf.

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References:

1. Quivira Los Cabos Residence
2. El Faro Viejo Cabo San Lucas – Old Cabo
3. One Course, Two Lighthouses: Quivira Golf Club - InMexico
4. Golf Resorts Mexico | Golf
5. Lighthouses near the world's golf courses
6. symphony.cdn.tambourine.com/quivira-los-cabos-residence/media/old-lighthouse-5dcc571a03cee.mp4
7. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1A51ataq4h/

In honor of WIC week, we are covering the lighthouse with the most years kept by women keepers! Biloxi Lighthouse is also known well in Mississippi as a symbol of resilience after surviving Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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References:

1. Biloxi Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
2. Biloxi Lighthouse Throughout the Years | City of Biloxi
3. Biloxi Lighthouse | USLHS

Listener Lighthouse! Thank you to Megan for sending this in.

Commonly known as the I Love You Lighthouse, Minot's Ledge actually has a deadly history as a strange lighthouse on stilts! When that one failed, engineers used the successful construction tactics from the Eddystone Lighthouse to build a stone tower that still stands today.

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References:

1. Minot's Ledge Lighthouse | Lighthouse Stars
2. Minot's Ledge Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
3. Minot's Ledge Light history | New England Lighthouses
4. Minot's Ledge | USLHS
5. Mahan Lens Video

We're headed back over to California today to talk about a lighthouse that, like many others, went dark after the beginning of WWII - however, Point Fermin Lighthouse was never relit. Decades later, its Fresnel lens was found in an unlikely location...

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References:

1. Point Fermin Lighthouse | LA Parks
2. Point Fermin Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
3. Point Fermin | USLHS

If you are one of our wonderful UK listeners, these two names may be familiar to you! Vince is taking us across the pond to one of the oldest lighthouses in the UK, and the first lighthouse to be built on a rock in open sea. While the first two editions of the light were shaky at best, John Smeaton created a version that stood the test of time (and we're convinced even a nuke couldn't bring it down!).

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References:

1. The Eddystone Lighthouse • John Smeaton • MyLearning
2. (1) The Lighthouse that inspires the invention of a new cement! | LinkedIn
3. An Eddystone Adventure - Sandeman’s Yachting Chronicles
4. The Eddystone Lighthouse | National Coastwatch Institution

Welcome to the second installment of our Christmastime at Lighthouses special! Last year we covered classics like St. Augustine Lighthouse and Nauset Light, and this year we selected five special lighthouses from our 2024 lineup that do something special for the holidays.

Listen in for some festive magic and lots and lots of Christmas lights!

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References:

1. https://www.mainelightstoday.com/nubble-lightlike-no-other-lighthouse-at-christmastime/
2. https://www.mnhs.org/events/2948
3. https://www.christmasinedgartown.com/
4. https://www.vineyardsquarehotel.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-christmas-in-edgartown/
5. https://www.kporttrust.org/flying-santa
6. https://tworivertimes.com/historic-lighthouse-becomes-christmas-beacon/
7. https://www.skogasafn.is/skogar-museum/artifacts/deck-prism/

You probably wouldn't dream of using a lighthouse for bombing target practice...right? Unfortunately, that was the fate of Waugoshance Lighthouse, built in the 1850s and hanging on by a thread today. Efforts to restore the light were abandoned in 2021, leaving this light to fall to into the waiting arms of Lake Michigan.

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References:

1. Waugoshance Lighthouse | Lighthouse Friends
2. Waugoshance Light | Wikipedia
3. We Bombed Waugoshance Light | Restless Viking
4. What do the numbers mean on a nautical chart? | National Ocean Service

Many know which lighthouse was the last to be automated in the US, but what about second to last? Goat Island Lighthouse of Kennebunk, Maine was not automated until 1990, and even today there are caretakers who watch over the light and the island it rests on.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our US listeners!

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References:

1. Islands & Lighthouse — Kennebunkport Conservation Trust
2. Goat Island Light | Lighthouse Friends
3. Station's Facebook
4. Goat Island Lighthouse | Jeremy D'Entremont
5. Thanksgiving at The Rock
6. Thanksgiving Miracle at Tillamook Rock Light
7. Thanksgiving at Boon Island Light