By Donald Carter

America’s coastlines and waterways are dotted with lighthouses. These beacons for mariners, many of them still in use, are historic landmarks and most are open to the public. Each lighthouse has a distinctive look and a unique nocturnal light sequence to aid ships in navigating the miles and miles of oceans, rivers and lakes. But often, even more interesting is the history that surrounds the construction of the lighthouses.

Chronicles of lighthouse keepers’ lives are mostly tales of a solitary life, deprivation and danger, occasionally sprinkled with romance, intrigue and heroism. Many of their secrets will remain hidden forever, even though their lights still shine brightly. Here are a few sketches about some of the nation’s sentinels.

Sapelo Island Light
Sapelo Island, Georgia
Built:1820
Decommissioned:1898
This 90-foot-tall brick tower was built by Winslow Lewis on land provided the Federal government by Thomas Spalding. It was originally built as a harbor light, guiding vessels into Doboy Sound north of St. Simons Island on their way to the increasingly busy port of Darien. It received a fourth-order Fresnel lens in 1854. Confederates damaged the tower during the Civil War, but it was repaired by the Lighthouse Board in 1868. It was undermined by the hurricane tidal wave of 1898 and was abandoned by the Lighthouse Service soon after. The Service erected a 100-foot steel pyramidal tower in 1905 that operated until 1933, when lighthouse operations were suspended for good. The skeletal tower no longer exists at the site and the brick tower had fallen into disrepair until it was renovated in 1998. It is part of the Sapelo Island National Estuarian Sanctuary.

Gay Head Light
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
Built:1856
This 51-foot-tall brick tower (170 feet above sea level) marks the Devil’s Bridge Rocks at the entrance to the Vineyard Sound. It replaced the original 1799, 47-foot-tall wood octagonal tower. The new tower was fitted with a first-order lens, one of the first Fresnel lenses used in the United States. All of the station’s buildings have been dismantled or destroyed over the years and only the tower remains today. In 1990, the lighthouse was opened to the public for the first time in 35 years.

Tibbets Point Light
Cape Vincent, New York
Built:1854
Automated:1981
This light is located at the Lake Ontario entrance to the St. Lawrence River. It replaced the first tower which was built there in 1827. The keeper’s quarters are currently used as a youth hostel and the grounds are cared for by the Tibbets Point Lighthouse Historical Society.

Stratford Point Light
Stratford, Connecticut
Built:1881
Automated:1969
This beautifully maintained conical, brick-lined, cast-iron tower replaced the original wooden tower built in 1821. It is the fourth-oldest light station in Connecticut still under Coast Guard jurisdiction. It is one of the few light stations with its three principal buildings still standing: the light tower, keeper’s dwelling and brick powerhouse.

Detroit River Light
South Rockwood, Michigan
Built:1885
This three-story steel-sided tower sits on a six-sided, elongated stone and cement foundation in Lake Erie at the entrance to the Detroit River. The attached building houses a fog signal. The signal and light are still active.

Ocracoke Light
Ocracoke, North Carolina
Built:1823
This light, the oldest one still operating on the North Carolina coast, is located in the small fishing village of Ocracoke, midway between the Cape Hatteras Light and the Cape Lookout Light along the Outer Banks. This light is still active. It replaced a previous light built in 1798, which was located on Shell Castle Island just inside the entrance to Ocracoke Inlet, where the pirate Blackbeard once lived.

Cape Hatteras Light
Buxton, North Carolina
Built:1870
This distinctive “candy cane” lighthouse towers 208 feet—the tallest in America. It stands as part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore at the southern elbow of Hatteras Island, warning seafarers of the shallow Diamond Shoals which jut almost 14 miles into the Atlantic from the Cape. This light is the second of three lights that have shown from this location. From 1936 until 1950 the light was temporarily located atop a steel skeletal tower about 2 miles northeast of the present site. Shore erosion continues to plague the structure and debate ensues as to whether or not the tower should be relocated.

Sandy Hook Light
Highlands, New Jersey
Built:1764
Automated:1962
This 85-foot-tall octagonal rubblestone tower is the only surviving U.S. lighthouse of the colonial period and, therefore, is the oldest lighthouse in the United States. Located at the tip of Sandy Hook, north of the highlands, it is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. It is still in operation today.

Hereford Inlet Light
North Wildwood, New Jersey
Built:1874
This unique Victorian Stick Style dwelling marks the entrance to Hereford Inlet along the Atlantic Coast north of the Delaware Bay. The light tower rises out of the center of the house to a height of 57 feet. Surrounded by beautiful gardens, it is maintained by the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Commission and houses a museum.

Minots Ledge Light
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Built:1860
Automated:1947
Originally built as an iron pile lighthouse in 1850, that first tower was downed by a storm in 1851. For the next nine years, a lightship guarded the dangerous reefs around Minots Ledge. This present tower stands 97 feet tall and is built of granite blocks laid on top of foundation stones weighing two tons each. It is also known as the “lovers light” because its one-four-three rhythmic flashes remind the romantically inclined of the words “I Love You.”

Cape Ann Twin Lights
Thacher Island, Massachusetts
Built:1861
Automated:1980
Decommissioned:1932 (North Light)
These twin light towers are 124 feet tall and made of granite stones. They replaced the original 45-foot-tall lights that had been built in 1771, the last of the colonial lighthouses. The current towers make up the last twin light station built. In 1932, the Bureau of Lighthouses deactivated the light on the north tower. In 1980, the Coast Guard automated the light in the south tower and the fog signal.

Toledo Harbor Light
Toledo, Ohio
Built:1904
Automated:1966
This light is located in Toledo Harbor, eight miles from the shores of Toledo. It is a Romanesque-style three-story brick building with an attached one-story fog signal building. This light still actively guides ships into the harbor.

Tybee Island Light
Savannah, Georgia
Built:1867
This 145-foot-tall lighthouse sits on Tybee Island and marks the mouth of the Savannah River. It is the oldest active light station on the southeast coast. It has been leased to the Tybee Island Historical Society and is open daily to the public. A museum has been established in the 1881 keeper’s dwelling. The tower was repainted in 1999 to reflect the daymark scheme as it appeared from 1916 to 1964. The photo above is how it now appears.

Erie Land Light
Erie, Pennsylvania
Built:1867
Decommissioned:1897
This sandstone tower, with its attached walkway to the long-missing keeper’s dwelling, was built in town on the mainland to replace the original 1819 light on Presque Isle Peninsula, which had sunk into the ground due to a layer of quicksand far below it. It is located in Erie’s Dunn Park and the lantern room has recently been replaced and the tower is being restored.

For more on the country’s colorful lighthouses, check out Donald Carter’s website at www.ipl.org/exhibit/light.