Eric Is Labriola's antiques still there in Wilmington NC? we used to stop by there when were in the area. I was not into lighthouses back then. I was into collecting glass insulaters at that time and used pick some up at Labriola's as he had a large stock in his shop. I do remember the large lens in the front of his shop.

I'm not sure. I haven't been to Wilmington in about 10 years.

Thanks again, Eric. I had misremembered that story as being about Cape Lookout's lens. That fresnel ended up in the Block Island Southeast light after a stay with the Coast Guard of nearly 30 years. Both stories are on the same page of "The Lost Light" book. Guess I need to study more.

Thought I'd move the current question to this page.

Which Lake Michigan island gained a lighthouse and lost a king, both in 1856?

Was it Beaver Island?

Judy

Yes! The lighthouse was St. James Harbor and the 'King" was Strang. Thats with no 'e' though he was strange. :p

Okay, new question:

Today, you could sit down for tea in the keeper's dwelling that housed just two keeper's during it's 68 years of service. Both keepers were of the same family. What Canadian lighthouse is this?

Judy

Cape Enrage, New Brunswick has a tea room, but the rest doesn't. fit. I haven't studied Canadian lighthouses yet, still working on the Great Lakes and that's a job.

Laura, and all, here's another hint. It's a Nova Scotia lighthouse, and the keepers were a father and daughter.

Judy

Gilbert's Cove
Father and daughter keepers: Melanson

I waited to give someone else a chance.

Laura, you are correct! Sorry for the delay in responding to you.

Now, it's your turn.

Judy

Sandy Hook, NJ is the oldest standing US lighthouse. Which is the second oldest?

HEY NEWBIES! Come on and jump in. The water is fine. I'm barely a Wacko myself. No one here bites, they may nibble a little.

I gave up waiting for a newbie to take a nibble!

Boston Light?

Well depends on what you definition of is, is. The lower 60 ft of the Tybee Island Lighthouse dates to about 1773.

I thought only Clinton would say that!


Ok, I meant Boston Harbor. If we are taking about parts, or foundations, isn't part of Morris Island from 1767....or did they just move the plaque?

Well I'm not talking about the foundation. The current tower at Tybee is about 145 ft tall. The original height was about 100 feet. After the Civil War the top 40 feet of the tower was removed and a 85 foot section with a new lantern to house a second order lens was added to the top of the remaining stump.

As for Boston Harbor the current tower was 75 feet tall when built in 1783, in 1859 the lantern was removed from the tower and a section composed of a watch room and new lantern to house a second order lens was added bringing the tower to it's current 89 feet.

You're right Eric, both were raised in height and Tybee is older. Under any definition.
Your turn, give us a good one.

Ok here's one. This tower was first lit on January 1, 1858. It was destroyed in 1948 to make room for a parking lot.

Ponquogue, NY. LH Depot says it was lit 1/1/1878 but the Coast Guard and Rowlett say 1858. Wonder how you say that name, probably why the CG called it Shinnecock.

I've always called it Shinnecock Bay light. It was also called Ponquogue Point. Looking at pictures of the tower I would say the 1858 date is most likely. The tower looked a lot like Absecon, Cape May, Cape Lookout, and Pensacola towers which were all lit between 1857-1860.

When this lighthouse was lit in 1870, it was called Cape Orford. What is its name now?

Cape Blanco, OR

Right Eric, your turn.

This lighthouse which was destroyed in 1931 is the only one of the three "Whitefish Pt." style iron pile towers all constructed circa 1861 no longer standing.

These were considered experimental at the time. What made them unique was the bottom portion of the skeletal tower was vertical. Manitou Island, Whitefish Point and DeTour Point were all of this style. DeTour Point was demoed when DeTour Reef was built offshore.

In 1872, a flock of geese flew into this light, breaking the glass panes and damaging the lens.

I'll give my question to Bob, even though Eric hasn't said my answer is right yet. Glad to have another participant. Tough question, birds hit alot of lanterns and lens.

You guys are good. Yes the "Whitefish Pt." style towers were an experiment. But it seems they were well constructed.

Bob, now I'm just guessing, is it Bodie?

Bodie it is.

The engineer that came up with screwpiles had a disability. What was it?

I think I once read that he was blind.

Alexander Mitchell went blind when he was 20. I think that is amazing.

Ok, lets see...2 part question...Which lighthouse was used in the movie 'The General's Daughter' and what was wrong with it as portrayed in the movie vs real life?

Hint...Not talking about the daymark because it did look like that when the movie was filmed. I'm also not talking about the surroundings because its obvious that they were added into it.

But, there is something else that is very wrong with this lighthouse in the movie.

All I have been able to figure out is thats its Tybee. Only know that because I found a lighthouse site with a list (long list) of movies and the lighthouses they featured.
I'll guess, the movie had it on the wrong coast?

^^

It is Tybee, and it is on the right coast. But you'll have to have seen the movie and the lighthouse in person to get what it is. It has to do with the light itself.

No takers? Ok...WVlights got half of it, so she gets the next question. The other half is that Tybee in the movie rotates slowly. In real life, the light is constant and pulsates.

Now that is a detail type question. The only lights I would know the signal well enough to catch that a movie had it wrong would be ones I've just sat and watched. Good one Tybee.

Name a Winslow Lewis built lighthouse still standing.

Sapelo Island, GA. Surprising as it was abandoned due to an erosion issue.

Only 21 minutes....I thought it was harder than that. Your turn Eric.

Another answer would be Amelia Island, FL.

OK, here goes. What is the tallest US lighthouse on the Pacific? Tower height, not focal plane.

Sapelo is a better answer I think. Amelia Is was taken apart and rebuilt. As much as you read about Lewis' poorly built towers a few remain but several have been modified. Sapelo is as he built it.
I'm having trouble with your question...both Point Arena and Pigeon Point are 115 foot tall.

There is another. The tower in question is 138 ft.

You said on the Pacific, I read west coast. I found 3 taller lights in Hawaii.
Cape Kumukahi 125' Kalaupapa 138'
Aloha Tower 184'

Moloka'i also known as Kalaupapa is the one in question.

The Aloha tower was not built as a lighthouse, it was built as office space for the harbor and later the light was moved there.

What US lighthouse recently had its first order fresnel removed by the Coast Guard?

Cape Canaveral?

No, that one is in the museum at Ponce Inlet. The one I'm talking about, no one knows what the Coast Guard did with it.

Clue: the fresnel was removed from a seldom seen light. Information from Lighthouse Directory.

Clue #2: This is a west coast light.

Maybe this was too difficult, or just wrong time of year.
From Lighthouse Directory. (Somehow I didn't have the important part of the quote in here, fixed now.)
Since most people will never get to see this light(though I tried and would love to get to see it) it is my humble opinion the Coast Guard should give this fresnel to an accessible lighthouse, like say.... Cape Hatteras.

Anyone have a new question?????

I've not heard anyhthing about the lens being removed. But then again who get to this light... well I know 1 person who has been 4 or 5 times.

4 or 5 times, must be CG or a rancher?

Nope, she is just very persistent. She doesn't take no for an answer she takes it as a challenge.

Just to get this going again, here's an easy question:

Which lighthouse island is inhabited by goats?

Cape Romain?

Molokai, Hawaii

Lighthouse Loon had the answer I was looking for. He's up!

What lighthouse was only considered a lighthouse from 1886 till 1902?

Statue of Liberty

Bert, You got it !!!

Your turn!!

It's been over a couple days since the last question was answered.

Fair to say its open for anybody to ask a question.

Which West Point graduate was involved in the construction of which lightstation, the first of its type built in the U.S.? I believe this one is not very difficult, but interesting nevertheless.

General Meade was a West Point graduate. Didn't he design several lighthouses? I think there was even one or two that he built and then later destroyed during the Civil War.

Carysfort perhaps? (Reef Lighthouse)

Laura, I do not believe General Meade destroyed any lighthouses. Some were blow up by the South so the North could not use them and the one at Mobile Bay received much damaged from cannon fire from ships.

Eric, I was going from memeory, there was some northern general who destroyed his own lighthouse, maybe I was thinking of Mobile Bay. Stuck in my mind because I couldn't imagine destroying a building I have built, and yes any building I have been involved in building is "my" building. I'll have to see if I can find the book this evening. There was also Barton Alexander who built (or was it designed) the second Minot's Ledge,. He was a West Pointer also.

Perhaps you mean Orlando Poe, West Point graduate and Union Civil War general who designed many of the Great Lakes lighthouses while he was the chief engineer of the Lighthouse Board right after the war. He was instrumental in designing Spectacle Reef, one of the Great Lakes' first off-shore lighthouses.
(By the way, you can read my profile of him here.....)
http://letstalklighthouses.blogspot.com/2008/01/biography-orlando-metcalfe-poe.html

Mystery Guest, we have several answers here ... whats the verdit?

The graduate has been identified, but none of the lighthouse guesses are correct. The construction of this first of its kind light in the U.S. was considered an experiment at the time. It turned out to be successful and many more of this type of light were built with many still in existence and operating today, although the light in question which replaced a lightship, was itself replaced over 60 years later by another type of light.

sounds like we're talking about a screwpile

In 1850 General Meade constructed the first Brandywine Shoals screwpile lighthouse, which replaced Lightship "N". Lightship N was sent to replace the first Minots Ledge which had been destroyed by storm. In 1911 the screwpile light was replaced by a caisson lighthouse.

Laura..

Basically you got it except at the time of the construction of Brandywine Shoals, Meade was a 2nd Lieutenant as he only became a General just before the Battle of Gettysburg. Also, the light was the first and only screwpile built at Brandywine Shoals with its claim to fame being it was the first screwpile built in the U.S.

Meade was later involved in the construction of Florida screwpiles at Careysfort Reef, Sand Key, Sombrero Key and Rebecca Shoal. He also was involved in the construction of 3 tall tower lightstations in New Jersey including Barnegat-1856, Absecon-1856-57 and the current light at Cape May-1857.

Your turn.

M.G.

If you were standing in the lantern room at Point Fermin, what lighthouse would you be able to see?

The inside of Point Fermin

LA Harbor or Angels Gate LH