Lighting the Way

If you traveled to a coastline this summer, you might have visited or seen a lighthouse.

Before boats and ships had motors, it was often difficult for them to change direction swiftly. If they got too close to certain shores, they could smash against the rocks.

Lighthouses were built to help sailors know where they were and avoid dangerous waters.

Lighthouses stand all along the U.S. and foreign coasts. They are also found along the Great Lakes and in waterways such as Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River.

During the day

Sailors had trouble knowing exactly where they were without modern technology, like satellites and radar. Along the East Coast, they often could learn their location during the day by the different colors and patterns painted on lighthouses, called daymarks.

Too foggy to see

Sometimes it can be so foggy that sailors cannot see the light. Then keepers used loud noises to alert the ships.

Keepers have shot off cannons, rung bells and blown steam whistles, trumpets and sirens. Today, lighthouses sound automatic foghorns.

Lightships

In some areas where there was no good place to build a lighthouse, lightships were anchored at sea. These ships carried lanterns at the top of their masts.

Today, floating structures, or warning

buoys, have replaced many lightships.

Lighthouse keepers

Before the use of electricity, lighthouses used open fires, candles (protected from wind by a lantern room), lamps, oil burners and reflectors to create their bright beacons. This meant someone had to light the lamp at sunset and make sure it shone all night.

Many lighthouses are far away from cities and towns, and keepers would have to stay for months without seeing other people. Those who were married might bring their families with them.

The job was also dangerous; storms could damage the light or their home. Some had to rescue drowning sailors.

photo by Dan Nevill

photo by C Hanchey At night, lighthouses have their own special pattern of flashes. For example, Minots Ledge, off the coast of Maine, uses a code of one flash/ darkness/four flashes/ darkness/three flashes. People began thinking of this pattern as reading, “I love you.”

The only U.S. lighthouse that still has a keeper is Boston Light in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. It is the oldest lighthouse in the United States, originally built in 1716. In Canada, there are more than 50 lighthouses with active keepers.