In June, the nomination of the Race Rock, NY light for the National Register of Historic Places is scheduled to go before the review board. The nomination was prepared by myself, Jayme Breschard, and former Race Rock keeper Kevin Brennan (who some of you have seen on our Beacons of the Night cruise and Gold Coast cruise, and at our lighthouse history course).

The nomination was submitted this past week, and I will be forwarding color slides to aid in the SHPO's presentation.

The nomination leaned on the usual lighthouse significance in the growth of the nation and maritime traffic, blah,blah,blah, but also included Criterion B, which is association with a famous historical figure. In this case, it was Francis Hopkinson Smith. Those of you who are members of the Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society may remember my recent article in The Long Island Light Keeper on Smith. He was a remarkable man, from a remarkable family, and is underappreciated in the annals of American history. Not many people achieve national, even international, prominence in three fields - in this case: engineering, writing, and painting.

You can read one of Smith's books on the Chapter's web site (in my signature below), and there are still some extra copies of the newsletter with the article, if you're interested. I will probably post the article on my LongIsland.com column in the near future (after the nomination is approved).

It'll be nice to see one of my favorite lights get the recognition it deserves. I hope that will help to protect it.