Sandy Hook Light was financed by a lottery.
Boston Light was financed by a toll on shipping.
Portland Head Light was supervised by Alexander Hamilton.
St. Marks Light stood on land eroded by the sea.
Matagorga Island Light was built of portable iron plates.
Old Point Loma Light stood on a cliff in the clouds.
Sabine Pass Light was swept away by a hurricane.
Ship Shoal Light’s keepers were sickened by lead in the cistern.
Southwest Reef Light was heightened by extensions in its screwpiles.
Pensacola Light was damaged by a hurricane.
Minot’s Ledge Light needed four keepers working day and night.
Big Sable Light’s keeper wanted to transfer to be near a school.
Cape Hatteras Light black-and-white spirals were a daymark.
Presque Isle Light’s keepers received a pay raise for tending a fog whistle.
Duxbury Light’s keeper wanted his wife appointed assistant keeper.
Southwest Pass Light was destroyed by fire.
Sand Island Light was rebuilt after Civil War damage.
Yaquin Head Light was built from materials brought by boat.
Spectacle Reef Light was on the most dangerous shoal in Lake Huron.
Point Fermin Light showed alternating red and white flashes.
Grosse Point Light was located in an upscale residential neighborhood.
Thomas Point Shoal Light’s keeper wanted his wife with him.
Tillamook Rock Light’s building materials were floated ashore.
Stannard Rock Light’s keeper tied his lamps down in a gale.
Robbins Reef Light’s keeper, evacuated by sickness, left his wife in charge.
Fourteen Foot Bank Light was erected above a cylinder sunk in the sand.
North Point Light’s revolving mechanism malfunctioned.
Point Sur Light, with no school nearby, had a teacher in residence.
New Canal Light was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Old Mackinac Point Light’s keeper listed his many duties.
St. George Reef Light was the most expensive lighthouse ever built.
Heceta Head Light was located on an empty stretch of Oregon coast.
Cape Charles Light was a cast-iron skeletal structure, easily assembled.
Toledo Harbor Light’s assistant keeper deserted, leaving the keeper alone.
St. Martin Light suffered vandalism while closed during the winter.
Sabine Bank Light was erected from a pier surrounding its sunken caisson.
Point Arena Light was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake.
Rock of Ages Light hosted 127 shipwrecked steamer passengers.
Makapu’u Point Light needed a team and wagon to fetch supplies.
New London Ledge Light was sturdily built of reinforced concrete.
Split Rock Light building materials were haul up a cliff with a derrick.
Los Angeles Harbor Light’s assistant keeper assaulted his head keeper.
Point Wilson Light’s keeper was proud of his vegetable garden.
Boca Grande Rear Range Light’s tower was moved from Delaware.
Five Finger Islands Light, burned in 1933,was replaced with concrete.
Read about these 45 lighthouses standing on all the coasts of the United States and the Great Lakes. Primary sources detail
the vignettes above.
