Tag: Fresnel Lens
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Maine Lighthouse Museum
Rockland, Maine (August 2009) The Maine Lighthouse Museum occupies prime space along the waterfront in the City of Rockland, sharing a building with the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce Information Center and the police department (map). It is the largest, most impressive collection of lighthouse and lifesaving paraphernalia that I have ever seen. It…
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Umpqua River Lighthouse & State Park
Reedsport, Oregon, USA (May 1998) The Umpqua River Lighthouse seemed to be located surprisingly inland, further inland than any other lighthouse along the Oregon coast, about a half-mile from the shore it protects (map). An earlier lighthouse sat closer to the oceanfront on the other side of the river in 1857 but succumbed to fierce…
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Tybee Island Light Station
Tybee Island, Georgia, USA (July 2006) The Tybee Island light station sits a pleasant 18 mile drive east of Savannah (map). From there, visitors can overlook Georgia’s Atlantic coast and the mouth of the Savannah River. The beautifully restored facilities mirror their original condition. Admission requires a modest fee. This allows visitors to climb all…
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Sand Island and Eagle Island
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Bayfield County, Wisconsin (August 2007) We cruised past Sand Island and spied its famous lighthouse in the distance, a tan notch along a forested cliff. The Sand Island Lighthouse first shined in 1881 as a companion to the nearby Raspberry Island light. Ships heading east to Ashland couldn’t see Raspberry Island…
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Rockland Breakwater Light
Rockland Harbor, Maine (August 2009) A breakwater stretches along the mouth of Rockland Harbor providing refuge from storms and pounding surf. A lighthouse rests atop that long wall of rock assuring that no harm comes to mariners as they negotiate their way into the harbor. It’s easy to find the lighthouse. Visitors merely need to…
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Raspberry Island
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore; Bayfield County, Wisconsin (August 2007) Mariners navigated through the Apostle Islands with the Raspberry Island Light as their companion since its 1863 activation. This “Showplace of the Apostles” took its present form in 1906 when the U.S. Lighthouse Service expanded the keeper’s quarters to accommodate additional workers to operate a new…
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Owls Head Light
Owls Head (Rockland Harbor), Maine (August 2009) Owls Head Light sits spectacularly on a scenic outcrop, easily accessible from nearby Rockland, Maine. Quite simply it involves an easy swing along the southern shore of Rockland Harbor to the Town of Owls Head. From there follow Lighthouse Road to its terminus at the large parking lot…
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Ocracoke Light Station
Ocracoke Island, North Carolina (March 2012) The primary reason we went through the trouble of riding the ferry to Ocracoke Island from Hatteras was to see the old lighthouse (map). Construction of this version occurred in 1823 although lighthouses watched over Ocracoke Inlet since 1795. The need had long been established. English explorers first wrecked…
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Morris Island Lighthouse
Charleston, South Carolina (September 2008) The Morris Island lighthouse (map) has the classic appearance of what a lighthouse “should” look like. I took this long-range photograph taken from several miles away at Fort Sumter. It doesn’t do it much justice, but you can just make out the alternating black and white horizontal bands painted onto…
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Milwaukee Breakwater Light
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (2008) A four mile concrete breakwater protects Milwaukee harbor and the mouth of its river from cruel and punishing storms that form on Lake Michigan and slam against the shoreline. Ships accessing the protective waters of the harbor sail through a small aperture. The Milwaukee Breakwater Light marks the approach (map). The…