Lighthouse Friends
June 14, 2018 10:28 AM Subscribe
Maps and pictures of every lighthouse in the US and most lighthouses in Canada with lighthouse-related news and resources for the lighthouse fan.
I love this.
And I really was hoping to see a totally landlocked state like Kansas be clickable because maybe they had some kind of tourist-trappy "tribute to lighthouses" ironic lighthouse in a cornfield, or something like that.
posted by doctornecessiter at 10:46 AM on June 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
And I really was hoping to see a totally landlocked state like Kansas be clickable because maybe they had some kind of tourist-trappy "tribute to lighthouses" ironic lighthouse in a cornfield, or something like that.
posted by doctornecessiter at 10:46 AM on June 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
Wow.. They're thorough -- they even list the derelict lightship that's moored in a nearby cove. And they've got good historical material on each of the lights that will fill in details I didn't know about our local ones.
Don't believe the overview map for Alaska, though -- the Cape St. Elias lighthouse is not actually several hundred miles inland. I've sent them a note that something went wrong with the placement of their map pin, but apart from that I'm very impressed..
Also, I'm always staggered by comparing the relative density of lighthouses in Michigan (where I grew up) vs. Alaska (where I have lived for many years.) A good day's bike ride through west Michigan would take me to more lighthouses than exist in all of Alaska.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:14 AM on June 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Don't believe the overview map for Alaska, though -- the Cape St. Elias lighthouse is not actually several hundred miles inland. I've sent them a note that something went wrong with the placement of their map pin, but apart from that I'm very impressed..
Also, I'm always staggered by comparing the relative density of lighthouses in Michigan (where I grew up) vs. Alaska (where I have lived for many years.) A good day's bike ride through west Michigan would take me to more lighthouses than exist in all of Alaska.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:14 AM on June 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Lovely. (I'd love a layer showing active and functioning fog horns, too.)
posted by mykescipark at 11:16 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mykescipark at 11:16 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
TIL the story of why "Barbers Point" is called that. I'm sure Captain Barber's descendants are glad that the airport and surrounding area (if not the lighthouse itself) have been renamed "Kalaeloa".
posted by tobascodagama at 11:21 AM on June 14, 2018
posted by tobascodagama at 11:21 AM on June 14, 2018
I further appreciate the fact that Machias Seal Island Lighthouse appears on the maps for both Maine and New Brunswick.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:24 AM on June 14, 2018
posted by tobascodagama at 11:24 AM on June 14, 2018
Huh, turns out I've been to all the lighthouses in Minnesota. Most of them still work, several are still "on duty", this one clearly not.
posted by traveler_ at 11:38 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by traveler_ at 11:38 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is awesome!
I grew up across from the Fort Gratiot lighthouse. Old friend indeed.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:55 AM on June 14, 2018
I grew up across from the Fort Gratiot lighthouse. Old friend indeed.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:55 AM on June 14, 2018
So pleased to see Monomoy, the obscure abandoned wilderness lighthouse that's my home for 3 months each fall. I can never find it on any map of the lighthouses of Cape Cod.
posted by Freyja at 11:57 AM on June 14, 2018
posted by Freyja at 11:57 AM on June 14, 2018
Interesting that Alaska doesn't have lighthouses outside of the southern coast. I guess they're not needed.
posted by dilaudid at 12:53 PM on June 14, 2018
posted by dilaudid at 12:53 PM on June 14, 2018
Also, I'm always staggered by comparing the relative density of lighthouses in Michigan (where I grew up) vs. Alaska (where I have lived for many years.) A good day's bike ride through west Michigan would take me to more lighthouses than exist in all of Alaska.
Interesting that Alaska doesn't have lighthouses outside of the southern coast. I guess they're not needed.
Well, if you think about when commercial maritime traffic really became a thing in Alaska, as compared with Michigan, there were a lot better tools available to navigators by the 1920s in Alaska than in the early 1800s in the Great Lakes, so not as many lights were necessary.
Also, Alaska's just a hell of a lot harder to build in: remote islands like Cape St. Elias pretty much require helicopters for access. When my office looks at projects in Alaska, the cost of mobilizing a team to, say, an island in the Aleutians is always the largest cost of the project, no matter how complicated the work itself is.
I have always been impressed by LighthouseFriends' comprehensive nature, although I would not rely on them for information about who owns any given property. Lighthouse transfers are slow and complicated and it's easy to get confused.
Relatedly, the US Lighthouse Society has a ton of historical and architectural information about lighthouses around the world, including a database of fresnel lenses in the US. Their offices are in the Keepers' Quarters at Point No Point in Kitsap County, WA (they rent out the other side of the duplex for vacationers). They also sponsor tours, for people who are into maritime architecture and lots of stairs.
posted by suelac at 2:01 PM on June 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Interesting that Alaska doesn't have lighthouses outside of the southern coast. I guess they're not needed.
Well, if you think about when commercial maritime traffic really became a thing in Alaska, as compared with Michigan, there were a lot better tools available to navigators by the 1920s in Alaska than in the early 1800s in the Great Lakes, so not as many lights were necessary.
Also, Alaska's just a hell of a lot harder to build in: remote islands like Cape St. Elias pretty much require helicopters for access. When my office looks at projects in Alaska, the cost of mobilizing a team to, say, an island in the Aleutians is always the largest cost of the project, no matter how complicated the work itself is.
I have always been impressed by LighthouseFriends' comprehensive nature, although I would not rely on them for information about who owns any given property. Lighthouse transfers are slow and complicated and it's easy to get confused.
Relatedly, the US Lighthouse Society has a ton of historical and architectural information about lighthouses around the world, including a database of fresnel lenses in the US. Their offices are in the Keepers' Quarters at Point No Point in Kitsap County, WA (they rent out the other side of the duplex for vacationers). They also sponsor tours, for people who are into maritime architecture and lots of stairs.
posted by suelac at 2:01 PM on June 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Also, Alaska's just a hell of a lot harder to build in: remote islands like Cape St. Elias pretty much require helicopters for access.Oh, I understand -- I live here. One of my early "Welcome to Alaska!" moments when I first moved here occurred soon after I took a job working for a local communications company. At that time, telephone and data traffic from this particular island to the rest of the world were carried over a series of mountaintop line-of-sight microwave relays. My first week on the job I got called in by our monitoring system because of an alert, found my way through the troubleshooting manual to diagnose the problem (a generator had failed at one of the relay sites and batteries were dying), and took the recommended action which was to dispatch a generator repair crew by helicopter the next day. The chopper landed the crew at the site but when it came time to pick them up not much more than an hour later the weather had changed and it was unsafe for the chopper to return to the site to get them. Instead they had to hunker down for three days and live off the emergency rations stored in the generator shed until it was safe to pick them up again. That was my introduction to "working here has a few extra variables you may not have previously encountered.."
And some of the "extra variables" can be pretty terrifying. One light that you won't find on that map is the Scotch Cap Light, which used to exist on Unimak in the Aleutians. One night a 130-foot high wave simply erased it from the planet, and five keepers with it (well, parts of them were subsequently found..)
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:13 PM on June 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oddly, though i do not consider myself a lighthouse enthusiast, I have slept at two of these.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:11 PM on June 14, 2018
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:11 PM on June 14, 2018
Hm, speaking of which if anybody's interested in owning a lighthouse, one of those Minnesota ones I mentioned just came on the market. Maybe a bit of a fixer-upper though:
posted by traveler_ at 7:21 PM on June 14, 2018
The light station is offered “AS IS”And apparently the pier it sits on remains the property of the Army Corps of Engineers, and the light/foghorn system remains the property of the Coast Guard. Kind of a rip but oh so romantic.
and “WHERE IS” without representation, warranty, or guarantee as to quality, quantity, title, character, condition, size or kind.
posted by traveler_ at 7:21 PM on June 14, 2018
Beaver Island Harbor (St. James), MI has an interesting history. The source of much of the material is - A child of the sea; and life among the Mormons. Elizabeth Whitney Williams, 1905. [The subject of an abandoned post of mine]
posted by unliteral at 9:38 PM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by unliteral at 9:38 PM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Statue of Liberty not listed:
After Liberty's dedication and unveiling in 1886, President Cleveland appointed the US Light-House Board to be its caretaker. Engineers set up a steam dynamo plant on Bedloe's Island and fourteen arc lamps, nine in the torch and five others positioned strategically below at the angles of Fort Wood. Even so, the dimness of the lighting was little help to vessels entering the harbor and efforts were made to increase the illumination. In 1897 , an oil-generating engine was installed to power the lights, but they were still insufficient, and the Liberty Lighthouse closed in 1902.posted by unliteral at 9:53 PM on June 14, 2018
The Statue of Liberty thus became the first lighhouse in the U.S., technically, to use electricity for lighting its 'tower.'
p.s. A similar, well-researched site describing the lighthouses of New England is maintained by Jeremy D’Entremont, historian of the American Lighthouse Foundation.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:32 PM on June 14, 2018
p.s. A similar, well-researched site describing the lighthouses of New England is maintained by Jeremy D’Entremont, historian of the American Lighthouse Foundation.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:32 PM on June 14, 2018
Since I am well known for flights of foolish and romantic impulse, other persons in my household have specifically forbidden me from ever buying an old lighthouse to fix up and live in.
I don't know why they feel this needs specific gatekeeping. It's not like I would ever do something that dumb. Who would want a stupid old lighthouse, anyway?
I'm totally gonna do it.
posted by rokusan at 5:03 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't know why they feel this needs specific gatekeeping. It's not like I would ever do something that dumb. Who would want a stupid old lighthouse, anyway?
I'm totally gonna do it.
posted by rokusan at 5:03 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Who would want a stupid old lighthouse, anyway?
Heh.
It's a crazy amount of work, of course: these buildings are covered with lead paint and asbestos and decades of bird poop. The wiring is shot, they're usually off the grid, and many of the east coast and Great Lakes lights are often perched out in the water with no land access, tripling the cost of getting materials and equipment to them.
Ownership of the lighthouse itself doesn't always come with the right to access or occupy the land it sits on, because some are located on Army Corps of Engineers breakwaters or on property belonging to the state which doesn't necessarily transfer with the building. It can cost a ridiculous amount of money to restore the old historic elements of these buildings, while still meeting modern safety and building codes.
But if someone can afford the work, the results can be spectacular.
posted by suelac at 9:09 AM on June 15, 2018
Heh.
It's a crazy amount of work, of course: these buildings are covered with lead paint and asbestos and decades of bird poop. The wiring is shot, they're usually off the grid, and many of the east coast and Great Lakes lights are often perched out in the water with no land access, tripling the cost of getting materials and equipment to them.
Ownership of the lighthouse itself doesn't always come with the right to access or occupy the land it sits on, because some are located on Army Corps of Engineers breakwaters or on property belonging to the state which doesn't necessarily transfer with the building. It can cost a ridiculous amount of money to restore the old historic elements of these buildings, while still meeting modern safety and building codes.
But if someone can afford the work, the results can be spectacular.
posted by suelac at 9:09 AM on June 15, 2018
I visited a lighthouse just this week! I rate it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Today, Whitefish Point may best be known as the closest point in the United States to the wreck site of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes freighter lost on November 10, 1975. GLSHS recovered the ship’s bell on July 4, 1995, and it can know be seen at the society’s museum on the point. 🚢💀
Gordon Lightfoot 🎸🍁 has been there a bunch of times.
posted by riruro at 11:02 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
Today, Whitefish Point may best be known as the closest point in the United States to the wreck site of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes freighter lost on November 10, 1975. GLSHS recovered the ship’s bell on July 4, 1995, and it can know be seen at the society’s museum on the point. 🚢💀
Gordon Lightfoot 🎸🍁 has been there a bunch of times.
posted by riruro at 11:02 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]
In the process of geeking out on the great lakes lighthouses listed on the site, I came across this tidbit about the Lorain lighthouse, which is near Cleveland: Know why the Lorain lighthouse leans? A ship hit it. See where on a tour
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:01 PM on June 15, 2018
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:01 PM on June 15, 2018
Includes a little video tour of the lighthouse, too!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:02 PM on June 15, 2018
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:02 PM on June 15, 2018
Clicked🖱️ on Manitoba 🇨🇦🌾🐄 to find its lighthouses🗼💡 were inland. Ontario 🇨🇦🏒 and Quebec 🇨🇦🥖 only had listings on their southern coasts. Are there really no lighthouses🗼💡 on the Hudson Bay?
Lighthouses🗼💡 are LIT! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 💯💯💯
posted by riruro at 3:17 PM on June 16, 2018
Lighthouses🗼💡 are LIT! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 💯💯💯
posted by riruro at 3:17 PM on June 16, 2018
« Older Number Three Will Surprise You! | A Disgruntled Federal Employee’s 1980s Desk... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Nelson at 10:44 AM on June 14, 2018 [3 favorites]