Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse Thanksgiving

Recently, Dirk Kempthorne, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, approved the National Park Service’s recommendation to transfer ownership of Whaleback Lighthouse to the American Lighthouse Foundation, the key New England volunteer organization responsible for saving and preserving twenty Lighthouse Treasures.

The 50-foot high granite Lighthouse actively guards the entrance to the Piscataqua River and marks the approach to Portsmouth Harbor. Both the Beacon and Fog Signal will be maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. The historic Lighthouse structure will be restored and preserved by the teamwork of the American Lighthouse Foundation and their local chapter, the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse.

We are thankful that another New England Treasure has been saved and this distinctive coastal icon will be preserved for everyone to visit someday in the near future.

Lighthouse Background:
For historic, Lighthouse Cruises, and travel information about Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse, please click on the photo of this post.

Map Location:
For Map Directions, please visit the Google Map of Whaleback Ledge Light

Related Past Posts:

• Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse Open House, Oct 2, 2007
  A Photo Presentation of our visits to Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse and Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse
• Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse Tour, Sep 22, 2007
• Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse Support?, Aug 30, 2007
• Whaleback Ledge Light, A Beacon to save Fish?, Aug 11, 2007
• Whaleback Ledge Lighthouse for sale?, July 16, 2007

Related News Source:
Whaleback Lighthouse Receives New Keepers, November 18, 2008

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Gansett Lighthouse Cruises Fall Schedule 2008

Gansett Cruises has scheduled 8 narrated Historic Lighthouse Cruises for Coastweeks, the Celebration of Rhode Island Coast.

View Rose Island Light, Newport Harbor Light, Lime Rock Light, Castle Hill Light, and Beavertail Lighthouse from the M/V Gansett for a 90-minute cruise of Newport Harbor and the East Passage of Narragansett Bay.

“A Lighthouse cruise is the perfect way to relax and view the stalwart Lighthouses along the scenic Rhode Island coastline.” – Debbie Dolphin

The Lighthouse Cruise costs $20 and departs from Bowen’s Wharf on the following dates:
Sun. Sept 21 12:30 PM
Sat. Sept 27 5:30 PM
Sun. Sept 28 12:30 PM
Fri. Oct. 3 10:30 AM
Fri. Oct. 10 10:30 AM
Sat. Oct. 11 10:30 AM
Sun Oct. 12 2:30 PM

Reservations are recommended. For more information, please call (401) 787-4438 or visit the Gansett Cruises web site.

For Map Directions, please visit the Google Map of Long Wharf

Note: This is NOT a scrapped post. Gansett Lighthouse Cruises sends me a eMail every year asking me to publish their fall schedule. For the benefit of my readers, I provided another free advertising service to Gansett Lighthouse Cruises.

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Chatham Lighthouse Bicentennial

For two centuries, Chatham Lighthouse, located on the tip of the “elbow” of Cape Cod, has protected mariners navigating around one of New England’s most treacherous coastal shoals. The town of Chatham is celebrating the Bicentennial of Chatham Lighthouse with exhibits at the town hall and library during the summer.

The active lighthouse at the Coast Guard station will be 200-years old on Oct 7, 2008 and a Lighthouse Lecture by Jeremy D’Entremont at the Chatham Community Center is scheduled for Oct 5th.

Public tours of the Lighthouse Tower are scheduled on the following Open House dates: July 9, 16, 23, 30 – August 6, 13, 20, 27 – Sep 3, 17 – Oct 1, 15 and Dec 31, 2008. Admission is free and the Tower is open to the public from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.

Lighthouse Background:

In 1808, two 40-foot high octagonal wood framed Towers were constructed 70-feet apart on James Head, a 50-foot high bluff. Both twin Lights were First Lit on Oct 7, 1808 and exhibited a Fixed White Light illuminated by 6 whale Oil Lamps with 8.5-inch reflectors and green glass lenses.

The “Twin Lighthouses” had three functions: Range Lights marking the safe channel for navigation entering Chatham Harbor, to guide maritime commerce, en route to Nantucket Sound, around the shifting shoreline and shoals of Chatham, and to distinguish Chatham Light from Cape Cod Light.

The current conical cast-iron Lighthouse was built in 1877 and First Lit on September 6, 1877. In 1923, nine years after the opening of the Cape Cod Canal redirected the main shipping from around the outer Cape and the Sounds, the North Light Tower was moved to Nauset Beach to replace the “Three Sisters” Lighthouses.

The remaining South Light Tower was refitted with a new Fourth-order rotating Fresnel lens and exhibited four white flashes every 30 seconds. Currently, Chatham Light exhibits two white flashes every 10 seconds illuminated by a DCB-224 Aerobeacon 80-feet high above sea level to visible range of 24 nautical miles at sea.

For more Lighthouse information and photos, please click on the photo of this post.

Map Location:
Google Map of Chatham Lighthouse

Related News Source:
Shining light on darkness

Technorati Tags: lighthouse, Chatham Lighthouse Bicentennial, Chatham Lighthouse, Chatham, Massachusetts

Discover Michigan Lighthouses

Recently, the Detroit News published a news story about visiting the 124 Lighthouses in Michigan as fun, easy, and inexpensive to visit.

According to Terry Pepper, the executive director of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, many lighthouse visitors “are struck by the beauty, history and sheer isolation of these maritime sentinels. They tend to be magnificent structures, beautiful to look at, and harken back to a time when survival was a little closer, more pressing, than today,” he says. “They also tend to be located in some pretty spectacular places, such as islands, harbor entrances and prominent points along the Michigan shore.”

And, climbing the open towers to the balcony of the Lantern Room offers breathtaking scenic vistas of the shore. In addition, the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association is offering Lighthouse Cruises starting June 9. For more information about the cruise schedules, please visit www.gllka.com and click the Events menu tab.

For directions, open towers, and information about all Great Lakes Lighthouses, please visit Terry Pepper’s excellent “Seeing The Light – Lighthouses of the Western Great Lakes” web-site.

The Detroit News also published a excellent interactive slideshow of Michigan Lighthouses with a brief background of each Lighthouse. To view, please visit the “Special interactive: Click around the lighthouses of Michigan.”

In closing, the most intriguing Great Lakes Lighthouse Legend is the haunted tale of the deactivated Old Presque Isle Lighthouse. According to the whale of a tale, the ghost of George Parris, a former museum caretaker, returns every night to light the lamp in the empty Lantern Room. Edna Lenter who has worked at the museum for six years claims the Light is on “just about every night” and people have used the haunted Light to find the harbor at night and during storms. The paranormal phantom of Old Presque Isle has been investigated for years and sensationalized on myth-busting and Sci-fi tv shows.

Related News Source:
Discover the great lighthouses that line the Great Lakes, May 20, 2008

Technorati Tags: lighthouse, Discover Michigan Lighthouses, Great Lakes Lighthouses, Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, Michigan

New England Vacation Tips and Entertainment Ideas

Planning a vacation in New England?

Looking for Entertainment ideas in the six States of excitement?

New England.com is the digital place for ideas and places to visit in New England!

Click the “features” menu and you will find in depth travel information on the culture, exploration, and food & comfort, and the outdoors.

Click the “things to do” menu and you will find travel tips on attractions, lodging, recreation. restaurants and events.

Click the “community” menu and the “blogs” link and you will find New England Blogs about art, photo essays, skiing, sports, and lighthouses!

New England.com is the online hub to New England!

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