Proof That America Gives a Poop!

U.S. Code, Title 48, Chapter 8, Sections 1411–1419, better known as the Guano Islands Act of 1856, empowered U. S. citizens to claim any island in the world which was uninhabited and not under the jurisdiction of any other country as U. S. territory, so long as the island had large reserves of guano.
"Whenever any citizen of the United States discovers a deposit of guano on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other Government, and not occupied by the citizens of any other Government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President, be considered as appertaining to the United States." (first section of Guano Islands Act)
Now for those who may wonder what guano is, basically it's another word for bird droppings, which are rich in minerals and make an excellent natural fertilizer. The U. S. economy of the 1800's relied heavily on agricultural products, and guano was the best known fertilizer at the time.
In 1857, Peter Duncan, a citizen of the U. S. and ship captain, claimed Navassa Island in the Caribbean for the U. S. under the Guano Act. He turned possession over to his employer, who in turn sold the rights to "mine" the guano to the newly formed Navassa Phosphate Company of Baltimore, Maryland.
Mining guano is one of those awful jobs that even Mike Rowe from Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" would probably balk at. Done in extreme heat, with bird doo that is putrid smelling and back breaking when it is dried up and layered after thousands of years, (it took pick axes and dynamite to break up this stuff), it's no wonder that finding workers to handle the stuff was a daunting task. Peru, who up to the time of the U. S. Guano Act had the monopoly on guano production, would capture unsuspecting Chinese and other Asians and shackle them in the holds of ships to be transported to the guano mining islands, (a scene very reminiscent of the U. S. African slave trade).
In order to mine the guano on Navassa Island, the Navassa Phosphate Company struck up a deal with the state of Maryland to use incarcerated prisoners which the company would ship to the island and put to work there. It was a win-win situation for both sides, but after a short time, one which proved ineffectual for the company.
After the Civil War, freed black slaves were looking for work. Job offers were scarce, so when the Navassa Phosphate Company offered them $8.00 a month plus room and board for signing up for a length of 15 months, many freed blacks jumped at the opportunity. What they didn't realize was that they pretty much signed up to be placed back into slavery.
The conditions on Navassa Island were brutal. Not only the weather and stench were unbearable, but so were the white foremen. With no water at all on the island, the imported drinking water was probably rationed. The working week consisted of dawn-to-dusk mining, (which makes for a very long day when you're near the equator), six days a week. Add to that the abusive treatment of stringing up "slackers" from a tree by their wrists and dangling in the hot sun for hours, as well as other similar attrocities, one could say the working conditions weren't ideal. In time, a rebellion ensued.
On Sept. 14, 1889, the tensions finally came to a head. At that time, Navassa had 139 black workers and a dozen white supervisors. When one of the more violent supervisors kicked and struck a worker that day, a riot ensued. A number of the black workers attacked the supervisor, slamming him aside the head and took his sidearm, which all of the white supervisors carried to help them "get their point across". These workers, along with countless others, then surrounded the island superintendant's house, demanding better working conditions. Shots were exchanged between the holed up whites and the black workers, and even dynamite was tossed at the superintendant's dwelling. When the workers threatened to set a blasting cap to the house, the whites fled in terror.
Not all of the workers got involved with the riot. Most merely fled the scene to the interior of the island to escape the happenings. The workers who remained, however, sought out only those whites which were the most abusive. Four of the whites were killed that day, with a fifth dying shortly thereafter from injuries suffered during the attack. One of the supervisors was shot in the face, two others had their heads bashed in, while the most abusive of the supervisors was dismembered with a hatchet.
The rioters were soon transported back to Baltimore for trial, where three of the ringleaders were sentenced to death. Upon a grass roots swell of protest within the black community, as well as letters from the white judges who oversaw the cases, President Benjamin Harrison commuted the sentences to jail time only. A letter which reached Harrison from one of the black workers about the working conditions on the island didn't hurt the cause either, especially when the details were confirmed by a U. S. Navy vessel which was sent by Harrison to investigate.
A new black work force was sent to Navassa, and the murdered white workers were replaced by new white supervisors. Even after the riots, the working conditions remained virtually the same as they had always been.
By 1898, other guano reserves were discovered in South Carolina and Florida, and scientists were discovering new inorganic fertilizers. Add to that the advent of the Spanish-American War, Navassa Island was no longer a guano entity and the Navassa Phosphate company pulled out, then went into receivership. Guano would never be mined there again.
O.K., so what does that have to do with a blog about lighthouses? I'm getting to the lighthouse part, but first I had to tell you how the U. S. ended up on the island in the first place.
In 1914, the Panama Canal was opened. Ship traffic from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or vice versa, no longer had to traverse around Cape Horn and the tip of South America, it could cut the long and dangerous journey virtually in half by cutting through Central America. New shipping channels through some dangerous waters were now being used.
One of these channels, the Windward Passage, happened to pass between the islands of Cuba and the western coast of Hispaniola, where the nation of Haiti lies. Aids to navigation became sorely needed along the channel, so, in 1917, the U. S. constructed a lighthouse upon Navassa Island, which is smack dab in the channel. Outside of the Florida Keys and Puerto Rico, this was the only lighthouse operated by the U. S. in the Caribbean.
The lighthouse tower stood 162 feet tall and was on the highest point on the island, making for a focal plane of 395 feet. A keeper and two assistants were assigned to the light station.
Now in the previous account of the guano mining on Navassa, I related how difficult the island was to live on. The tropical climate coupled with the lack of water and endless bird dropping stench made this a difficult station to man. Although I have yet to find a list of keepers for this station, I'm sure that I would probably find a number of resignations on that list.
In the 1920's acetylene lamps were being experimented with to automate lighthouses, and proved to be quite capable for the times. Electricity was also becoming more prevalent, but with the remoteness of Navassa Island, this definitely wouldn't be an option. In 1929, Navassa Island became one of the first U. S. lighthouses to be automated, most probably with an acetylene lamp. Twice a year the Coast Guard would service the station.
During WWII, the U. S. Navy set up operations on Navassa Island as an observation post for the Caribbean. (I wonder, as a member of the navy in WWII, which was more frightening, combat duty or being stationed on Navassa!). At the end of WWII, the navy left, and with the exception of some transient Haitian fishermen and occasional ham radio operators, the island has been uninhabited since.
In 1996, after nearly 80 years of operation, the U. S. Coast Guard decommissioned the lighthouse and shut down the station. On August 29 of that year, the Coast Guard dismantled the lighthouse. It then transferred the island to the Department of the Interior, which oversees all uninhabited U. S. territories.
A 1998 scientific expedition led by the Center for Marine Conservation in Washington D.C. described Navassa as "a unique preserve of Caribbean biodiversity." Virtually untouched for over 100 years, and despite the absence of water, the island supports many species of wildlife and fauna that are either endangered in other areas of the Caribbean, or just don't exist anywhere else. Navassa was then transfered to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife service and the island is now the Navassa Island National Wildlife Preserve. It is also off-limits to the public.
It would seem that the fate is now sealed for Navassa Island, but not so fast. The nation of Haiti, throughout the U. S. occupation of the island, has also laid claim to "La Navase", as they call it. An unstable government, as well as being the poorest nation in the Caribbean, have hampered their efforts to petition international courts to reclaim the island. It has been a sense of contention in Haiti in recent years and eventually, the matter will have to be settled.
Then there's Bill Warren.
A former gospel singer, Bill Warren is a modern day treasure hunter. Seeking a remote island under U. S. jurisdiction to base his shipwreck salvaging company from, Warren discovered Navassa Island just before the Coast Guard deserted it in 1997.
While attempting to secure the island from the federal government, the General Sevices Administration could find no proof that the U. S. Government owned the island. Warren then set out on a mission to find such a deed. Instead, he came upon the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which remains on the books. Warren shifted his sights from shipwreck salvaging to guano mining, and has claimed the island for the purposes of harvesting the guano, (organic fertilizers are once again big business). It seems, to Mr. Warren at least, that there is no stipulation in the law that excludes an island which has previously been claimed for guano mining from being claimed again. Due to the island now being part of the National Wildlife Reserve, a monkey wrench seems to be thrown in to that argument.
Warren, however, has another trick up his sleeve. He "purchased" the island from Gerry Patnode for $2.5 million, all to be paid from the guano mining profits. It seems Patnode's
great-grandfather, James Woodward, replaced one of the supervisors who was murdered during the 1889 riots. After the Navassa Phosphate Company went into receivership, Woodward, along with two partners, purchased the island in 1901 for $25,000. The legal status of the sale, like everything else concerning Navasse, is a bit, shall we say, "foggy".
Nevertheless, Bill Warren is still pursuing the island through the courts.
It appears as though Haiti, at least for now, has relaxed its claim on the island. As a measure of goodwill, (and obviously to try to take some of the pressure off), a Haitian scientist has been invited to join the Americans who are plotting all of the fauna and wildlife on the island. At least for now, it seems as though there are quiet times for the fight for Navassa Island.

Lighthouses in Vermont?

As most of us at The Cape Cod Store.com took a short sabbatical this past week in order to get ourselves geared up for the upcoming busy holiday season, my "vacation" actually turned into a working/ sightseeing excursion.

Autumn in New England is a spectacular time, and this year was perhaps the most spectacular we've seen in many years. With that in mind, my wife Karen and I combined two of our favorite pastimes, leaf peeping and lighthouses.

When most people think of lighthouses, the state of Vermont isn't normally on the list. There are lighthouses in Vermont, however, on Lake Champlain. After the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain is the largest fresh water lake in the U. S. Accessible from the north by the St Lawrence Seaway, and from the south by the Hudson River, Lake Champlain played an important part in the country's early history.

It was along the banks of Lake Champlain where General Horatio Gates and a young Benedict Arnold lead the raw American troops to victory over the mighty British army at Saratoga, NY. The earlier efforts of Arnold and a small flotilla of American craft which drove the British navy out of Lake Champlain contributed greatly to the victory.

It was also on the New York shores of the lake where Vermont native Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the British fort at Ticonderoga. It was the cannon which were captured here and dragged through the winter mountains which helped George Washington's fledgling "army" drive the British from Boston.

Due to its size and proximity to both Canada and New York City, Lake Champlain became a vital waterway to commercial traffic in the 17 and 1800's. With its many islands and navigational hazards, it was only natural that lighthouses would be built to aid the maritime traffic.

Burlington, Vermont, the largest city on the lake, has a natural harbor unequaled by few cities, even those which are on the ocean. In order to protect the harbor from rough waters from westward winds, a breakwater was constructed in 1823, with wooden lighthouses on both the north and south ends a few years later. When these lighthouses were destroyed by ice, new wooden lighthouses replaced them. Again destroyed by ice, the lighthouses were eventually replaced by steel skeletal lights by 1950.

In 2003, the skeletal towers were replaced by lights which replicated the originals built during the 1800's.

Burlington North Breakwater

Burlington South Breakwater

On the very south end of Burlington Harbor is another lighthouse which was erected by the nearby condominium owners. This lighthouse isn't an official aid to navigation, although it does sport a light bulb which illuminates at night. Named "Phony Baloney Lighthouse" by the condo owners, the lighthouse was built just for aesthetics.

The "Phony Baloney Lighthouse"

At the north end of Lake Champlain, almost at the Canadian border, lie a number of large islands. Connected now by the bridges of Vermont Highway 2, these island passages were treacherous for 19th century mariners. Isle la Motte Lighthouse is on the northernmost island in this group, aptly named Isle la Motte. Originally painted orange, the light has faded to a salmon pink color.

Isle la Motte Lighthouse

Just to the north of Isle la Motte, a peninsula hangs down into Lake Champlain from the Canadian side. Just below the border, a tract of land juts out into the American side of Lake Champlain. The Windmill Point Lighthouse lights the way from the top of this jutting tract of land.

Windmill Point Lighthouse

Both the Windmill Point and Isle la Motte Lighthouses are privately owned, and are not open to the public.

Just to the south of Burlington, in the town of Shelburne, is the Shelburne Museum. This large museum contains a host of buildings and other Americana, most of which date back to the 1800's. Trains and train stations, horse barns and buggies, circus items, a blacksmith shop, an 1800's working printing press, and a carousel are just a small sample of the numerous exhibits. The museum even sports the last walking beam side-wheel passenger steamer in existence, the 220 foot Ticonderoga.

Adjacent to the Ticonderoga lies Colchester Reef Lighthouse. The lighthouse's original home was on a reef in the middle of Lake Champlain. In 1952, the decommissioned lighthouse, along with its original granite pier, was relocated to the grounds of the Shelburne Museum.

Colchester Reef Lighthouse

Inside Colchester Reef Lighthouse

Unfortunately, though there are furnishings in two of the upstairs bedrooms of the lighthouse, the remaining rooms are empty, save for some photos and stories of Lake Champlain shipwrecks and the like. The tower is also unaccessible. I wish the museum would try to totally restore the inside of the lighthouse to the time when it was active, and attempt to better portray the lives of its keepers. The lighthouse was interesting to see, but quite lacking.

There are also other lighthouses on Lake Champlain which we weren't able to get to. We attempted to view Juniper Island Light near Burlington from a cruise ship, but the lighthouse, which is on a privately owned island, was very difficult to see through the trees.

On the New York side of the lake are the privately owned Barber's Point Light in Westport, the recently renovated Bluff Point Light on Valcour Island, (we missed the public tour excursion which ended for the season in September), the Point Aux Roches Light in Plattsburgh, Split Rock Point Light in Essex, (another privately owned lighthouse), and the Champlain Memorial at Crown Point.

So many lighthouses, so little time.....

Sorry, Wrong Number!

Lynde Point Lighthouse

Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse

Earlier this year, a number of lighthouses were made available for "adoption" by the U. S. federal government, (See earlier post titled "Wanna Buy a Lighthouse?"). Among the available lighthouses was Saybrook Breakwater in Old Saybrook, CT.

This may be hard to believe, but an article which appeared Sept. 19th in Guilford, Ct.'s Shoreline Times makes light of the fact that the government may have made a mistake in adding the wrong lighthouse to the list!

Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse is only about a mile and a half away from Lynde Point Lighthouse. Unlike Lynde Point, which can be easily accessed by the public, Saybrook Breakwater is at the end of a large rock pier which must be accessed through private land. The only other access to the lighthouse is by boat.

What seems like a case of a "normal" government SNAFU, an employee of the Boston office of the General Services Administration, (the government agency which decides which lighthouses to divest each year), visited the area of the two lighthouses. Although the lighthouses look nothing like each other, (see above photos), the employee allegedly confused the two and posted the wrong lighthouse on the expendable list.

What happens now is unclear. Although the Board of Selectmen in the town of Saybrook is exploring the option of acquiring Saybrook Breakwater should the feds still want to make it expendable, the town's attorney has advised the Board against such an acquisition, stating problems with public access insurance and the estimated astronomical cost of removing hazardous material within the lighthouse and restoring it.

As for the Lynde Point Lighthouse, the GSA would have to begin the divestiture process all over again, according to the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.

The Most Lighthouses?

Earlier this summer in a story from Madison, WI's The Capital Times, Mary Bergin wrote about Door County, WI's lighthouses. According to the story, the cities of Racine and Sturgeon Bay were conducting a contest for local artists. Nearly 100 miniature lighthouses were decorated at the whim of the artists and placed throughout the two cities as a tourist attraction.
Within the story, Ms. Bergin casually comments that Door County has more lighthouses than any other county in the nation. This is a false claim which has been spread by Door County, itself, for a number of years and has been irresponsibly echoed by a number of tourist sites throughout the region.
According to Door County, their 10 lighthouses are more than any other county's grand total. Upon reading her article, I took exception to this misstatement, (see comments section at the bottom of the story, provided by the previous link), and brought to her attention that Barnstable County Ma., (which is essentially Cape Cod), has 15 Lighthouses, itself, and makes the Door County claim false.
My comment was posted on July 28th, and though it remained on the web page, no acknowledgement was ever made to me or anyone at The Cape Cod Store.com. It was nearly forgotten, passed off by me as just the usual attempt of a tourist area newspaper doing anything to promote its area, until this past weekend when, among our regular web news updates, we received one which included a follow-up story to Ms. Bergin's previous article.
It seems my comment may have struck a chord, as Ms. Bergin's new article focused on whether or not Door County's claim of having the most lighthouses was really factual.
Although my comment was alluded to in the follow-up article, and I commend Ms. Bergin for seeking the truth, I do take umbrage in how, as a journalist, she went about that.
The first rule of journalism is "get the facts correct". Obviously, in her initial article, she didn't ever think to check on Door County's claim, only to mimic the status quo of their claims, and jump on the county's coattails, as a number of other tourist sites have done. Having had it brought to her attention that the claim was incorrect, you would think that she would attempt to contact the person who has taken her to task, especially one with credentials such as was posted, "Roland Babineau, editor, The Cape Cod Store.com's Lighthouse Encyclopedia". Not only did Ms. Bergin not attempt to contact me, even though my contact info was left at the time I posted my comment, but she also made no attempt to contact anyone at The Cape Cod Store.com.
Now, that may not be a big deal, but if she's going to take the time to research whether or not the claim is true, shouldn't she interview someone other than just the local executive director of the Door County Maritime Museum to get another perspective? Although Executive Director Brian Kelsey admitted that Door County didn't have the most lighthouses, it seems to me that Ms. Bergin didn't use all the information available to her to form the story, she just took the short road and interviewed her local museum director.
If not contacting me for more info on my comment, at least interview any number of other experts on the lighthouse subject, (Terry Pepper, of the (Great Lakes Lighthouse Keeper's Association), or Tim Harrison, Bob Trapani, or Jeremy D'Entremont, (all of the American Lighthouse Foundation), quickly come to mind), who could have given her even more input than most of us in the field. It just seems to me that she could have tried harder and really made an impact with her story, (or perhaps real journalism would be detrimental to a Wisconsin newspaper telling the absolute truth about Door County, Wisconsin, tourist attraction).
Not only did Ms. Bergin not try to contact us here, it appears she didn't even bother to see what The Cape Cod Store.com's Lighthouse Encyclopedia even is. If she had done her research, she would have quickly seen that the Lighthouse Encyclopedia isn't a "product" of the Cape Cod Store.com, as she wrote. It is a free reference site with information, photos, history, and links to other websites containing information about each U. S. lighthouse, not something we sell, as she intimates.
As I stated earlier, I commend Ms. Bergin on her attempt at getting to the truth, but I wish she really would do a better job of "doing her homework".

Wild Goose Chase

Every lighthouse has a story. Some have a million of 'em.
Take West Chop Lighthouse on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, for instance.
Octave Ponsart was the keeper at West Chop from 1946-1957. Also with Ponsart was his family, wife Emma and daughters Bette and Seamond.
The following story is from an article written by Seamond (Ponsart) Roberts on the website jacksjoint.com. (jacksjoint.com is a website dedicated to U. S. Coast Guard history recounted by those who lived it.)

THE SAGA OF THE WEST CHOP WILD GOOSE CHASE
By Seamond (Ponsart) Roberts

I was the lighthouse keeper's daughter on West Chop Lighthouse from 1946-1957, where my dad, Octave Ponsart, was the head keeper. Located on Martha's Vineyard Island in Massachusetts, this was a prime tourist spot in the summer, but in the winter all by itself in the middle of a summer' person's colony area, it got kind of lonely and isolated too.
We had animals to kind of fill in the social gaps this creates. Oh, I had, dogs, cats, chickens -- lots of them -- but one time we had the opportunity to acquire two geese and we thought this would be a welcome addition to our little menagerie and give us some additional amusement too. Well, Lucy and Goosey were big white geese and turned out to be very bossy and "argued" so much between themselves and chased anyone who showed up around the lighthouse that they were really the winged pariahs of the station.
We had them for about three years and I must admit they chased off most of the summer tourists quite well.
Each fall they would honk at their wild cousin buddies and flap their wings and threaten flight. Dad would clip back their wings and the most flight they would achieve was a sideways airborneness of about five feet in the air, come crashing to the ground, and then go off honking and complaining.
After their many unsuccessful attempts at this, we figured they never would really fly. However, one spring day, the wild geese over head, I guess something went "spong" in their little pea brains and before we knew it, they did a long take off running the length of the two houses, flapping frantically, and sailing right over the bluff into the water -- Vineyard Sound!
My mother was frantic. There was a strong tide running and we figured the next stop for Lucy and Goosey was Spain! Dad launched the dory and rowed toward them, but they got caught in the strong tide and were really heading east very swiftly. As luck would have it, the Menemsha Coast Guard Station boat crew was having a practice run and they saw our hapless birds. Someone said, "I bet that's the Ponsart's geese!" (They were pretty well known as the "Nasty West Chop Poultry."
Well, our good buddies, the Coast Guardsmen scooped them up from a certain watery death and delivered them back to us. The Chief on delivering them up to us said, "Well, we've been on wild goose chases before . . . but not where we actually caught two geese who went wild."
We all had a good laugh on that and Lucy and Goosey returned to the pen, never again to be tempted to go AWOL.
While the names Goosey and Lucy are feminine, by the time we found out they were ganders, it was too late to change them - I can safely say that they were probably the most notorious and the only ganders ever to roam West Chop Light.

A bizarre lighthouse history

Many people are intrigued by lighthouses for many different reasons. Whether it be the beauty of the coastline location of beacons, the architectural diversity, or the amazing engineering feats of building structures which have withstood the harshest of weather from their exposed locations, in many cases, for a hundred years or more. Perhaps you are intrigued because you are a boater and the lighthouse reflects a sense of security in a stormy sea. Or perhaps, there's just something about the wonder of a beam of light at night which rotates over a dark ocean for many miles.

For me, the most intriguing aspect of lighthouses is reading about the diverse history of these structures. When visiting these marvelous beacons, it helps to put into perspective what they meant to our forefathers and the part they played in making our world what it is today.

As editor for The Cape Cod Store.com's Lighthouse Encyclopedia, among my jobs is to research the history of each U. S. lighthouse as its page is being created. I have found many intriguing stories, and each lighthouse has a unique tale.

Of all the lighthouses within the continental U. S., the one which seems to have the most bizarre history is Cape Florida Lighthouse near Key Biscayne, Florida.

Even before the first lighthouse at this location was constructed, there were problems. Perhaps it was a foretelling of the fortunes of this light station when in August of 1824, Samuel Lincoln of Boston, who was awarded the contract to build the original Cape Florida Lighthouse, along with construction crew and building plans boarded a ship bound for the lighthouse site to begin building the much needed navigational aid to the treacherous shoals around the Florida Keys. The ship and its passengers were never heard from again, all assumed lost at sea.

The lighthouse contract was again put out to bid, and was finally constructed and lit for the first time late in 1825.

The early 1800's were a very turbulent time in South Florida. Seminole Indians, inhabitants of the area before the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, didn't take kindly to the white man moving in. The white man didn't like the Seminole Indian, either, and in 1817-1818, the First Seminole War took place. Florida Seminole colonies were havens for escaped black slaves, and the U. S. Government tried to put an end to the "free land" for slaves and recapture the escapees. General Andrew Jackson and his troops soundly defeated the Seminoles in 1818 and the U. S. reached their objective.

Tensions between the two groups remained strained, but for the most part, violence was contained.

In 1835, the two sides were once again at war. A group of white men killed Alibama, the Seminole chief. In the subsequent trial, William Cooley, the Justice of the Peace for the area, (which is now Miami), oversaw the trial of the accused white men. He ruled that there was not enough evidence to convict the defendants and let them go free.

The Seminoles were enraged. The Indians attacked Cooley's home a short time later, but he was out of town. His family, however, was home and the Indians killed his wife, 11-year old daughter, 9-year old son, baby infant, as well as the children's tutor. Cooley arrived home a short time later to find his family massacred. He buried them hastily and escaped to the Florida Keys which afforded more protection for the Indian's hated target.

For a short time after the attack on his family, Cooley was an assistant keeper at the Cape Florida Lighthouse. The Indians, getting wind of this, decided to come looking for him. On the afternoon of July 23, 1836, a band of Seminoles arrived at the lighthouse. What they didn't know was that Cooley had months before left the lighthouse and was on to other work.

John Thompson, the assistant lighthouse keeper, was in charge of the lighthouse that day. The head keeper had business in Key West, and left Thompson and an elderly black man, (probably Thompson's slave), Aaron Carter, to care for the lighthouse. When the Indians arrived, the two men were outside on the grounds, between the tower and the keeper's house. They were fired upon by the Indians, but both managed to board themselves within the tower, barricading the wooden door just as the Indians came crashing upon it.

Thompson went up to a window on the second level and fired upon the Indians, which kept them at bay for a short time.

Knowing the two men were trapped within the tower, the Seminoles lit fire to the wooden door, perhaps as a way to enter after the men. The fire lit the large oil stores just inside the door, which then ignited the wooden steps. The inferno forced Thompson and Carter to climb to the top of the lighthouse and into the lantern room. The heat and flames were too much for the men, and they were forced out onto the balcony of the lighthouse. Here, they were easily within the gunshot range of the Indians, and both were wounded. Facing the prospect of either getting shot by the Indians or being burned alive by the inferno raging within the lighthouse, Aaron Carter decided his fate would be sealed by jumping to his death from the top of the lighthouse. Before he could jump however, the Indians picked him off as he was climbing over the rail, and his body remained on the balcony.

Thompson now had a choice. Badly wounded and intensely burned by the fire, his thoughts ran to his own demise. Earlier, when he climbed the stairs of the lighthouse, Thompson carried with him his musket and a keg of gunpowder. He summoned all of his energy and pushed the gunpowder keg down the stairs and into the inferno. The resulting explosion didn't totally destoy the lighthouse and kill Thompson, as he intended. It did, however, put the fire out.

Seeing no movement from the critically wounded Thompson, the Indians took him for dead and left. Thompson, still alive, had no escape from the top of the lighthouse, even if he were able to move. His feet were badly shot up by the Indians. Because of the inferno, his body was covered in oil, and all his clothing was burned from his body. He had no choice but to spend the night on the balcony, his body ravaged by mosquitos and the stench of Carter's burnt body nearby.

It would seem that that would be the way it would end for John Thompson. Miraculously, however, the powder keg explosion was heard 12 miles away on the U. S. naval ships Motto and Concord. The sailors, investigating the source of the explosion, found Thompson at the top of the lighthouse. It took them an entire day, however, to get him down. Miraculously, John Thompson not only survived the ordeal, but within a few months he was named assistant keeper at Garden Key lighthouse in the Dry Tortugas.

It would seem that this incident would be the highlight of any lighthouse's existence, and although it was, there were still incidents to come.

Upon inspection of the lighthouse after the Seminole attack, it was found that the brick walls, which were supposed to be solid, were actually hollow. In order to maximize profits, the contractor used only half of the bricks he was paid for.

It took 11 years and the end of the Second Seminole War before the lighthouse was finally repaired. The walls were made solid, a new iron staircase was installed, and an extra thirty feet of height was added to the tower and a new lantern placed on top.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, many of the South's lighthouses were either destroyed or rendered useless by the Confederates to keep them from being of use to the Union navy. Cape Florida was no exception. In August of 1861, the lamps and burners were removed from the lighthouse. In addition, the Fresnel lens prisms were smashed.

In 1867, after the end of the Civil War, the lighthouse was once again repaired and put back into service. It remained in service for only 11 years more. In 1878, the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse was constructed offshore and the Cape Florida Lighthouse was decommissioned.

The lighthouse remained, although left unattended. The shoreline, which was 100 feet from the lighthouse at the time of construction, was reduced by nature to only 10 feet from the lighthouse by the 1920's. The keeper's house and cookhouse were claimed by storms, and the tower seemed to be heading in the same direction. Then came Bill Baggs.

In the 1960's Mr. Baggs, a local newspaper editor, spearheaded a campaign to save the lighthouse. His campaign convinced the State of Florida in 1966 to purchase the lighthouse from the federal government, as well as a large tract of land on the tip of Key Biscayne. In 1967, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park was created, and efforts were made to restore and preserve the lighthouse.

A full 100 years from the time it went dark, the lighthouse was relighted on July 4, 1978. The keeper's house, cookhouse, and remaining buildings were rebuilt and the light station was totally recreated to look as it did in its heyday. A happy ending for this troubled lighthouse would seem to be at hand, but, after all, this is Cape Florida. Nothing is ever easy.

In August of 1992, one of the worst storms to ever hit the U. S., Hurricane Andrew, struck South Florida. The lighthouse was right in path of the storm, and sustained extensive damage. The State of Florida had to once again step up to save the lighthouse. Major repairs were again done, and the lighthouse relighted for Miami's centennial celebration in 1996.

It would seem that finally, Cape Florida Lighthouse may have a tranquil and peaceful existence. It definitely has earned it. Looking back on the long and troubled history, however, one can only wonder.

Lighthouse Raffle

An article which appeared in the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Herald News this past Tuesday (July 17), caught the eye of many of us here. It's a great idea, I think, and I'd like to pass it on.
This past April, Cape Neddick Lighthouse in Maine, (most know it as just "Nubble"), had substantial damage done to its grounds due to a very powerful Nor'Easter. Estimates have come in as high as two million dollars worth of damage done to the island which supports the lighthouse. As is the case with most municipal coffers these days, there isn't enough money in the town of York's budget to make all of the repairs needed.
The Sohier Park Committee, (Nubble is part of Sohier Park), and the York Park and Recreations Department, (which oversees the lighthouse), have come up with a unique solution to raise $100,000, which would help toward making safety improvements on the island and pay for some of the much needed improvements. Their idea is to run a raffle.
Basically, the raffle would work like this;
1,000 tickets would be sold at $100 apiece. The only prize? One winner gets to stay in the keeper's quarters of the lighthouse for one full week.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
There are a few glitches, however. First of all, the town Selectmen must approve the plan, (they seem to be rather positively in favor of it, as long as there are no problems with insurance matters). Secondly, the keeper's house needs some major upgrades, ("bathroom issues" and running water were high on the priority list). The Park Commissioners feel, however, that the money raised last year from Nubble's Gift Shop, (approx. $138,000), could be used toward those improvements.
If all goes well, raffle tickets will go on sale in 2008, and the winner will be able to spend his/her week at the lighthouse in the summer of 2009. ( My question to the committee, if I win, can I bring a friend? or two or three?)
My guess is that if the raffle does come off and turns out to be a rousing success, it would probably be a regular annual event, (my hope is that, at least).
I, for one, will be keeping a close eye out for the town's decision, and if/when the tickets go on sale, I plan to be near the front of the line!

Wanna Buy a Lighthouse?

The U. S. Coast Guard has made this year's expendable lighthouse list available to the general public. In accordance with the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, a number of lighthouses will be deemed "expendable" each year and will be made available to municipalities and nonprofit organizations which apply for a particular lighthouse and can meet a number of requirements, (such as filing a financial plan for restoration and maintainance of the lighthouse, a plan for public viewing within a "reasonable" amount of time, proof of ability to secure insurance for the lighthouse, allowing the Coast Guard access to the working light, and much more). The entire process and requirements can be read by clicking on the above link.

This year's 13 available lighthouses are;



CONNECTICUT


Penfield Reef ~~Located on Long Island Sound approximately 1 mile off the coast of Fairfield. This 35 foot tall lighthouse, constructed of wood and granite, was built in 1874 at a cost of $55,000 and lies upon a small "island" of rocks, (actually a cylindrical granite pier). It is said to be haunted by a former keeper who drowned nearby. The town of Fairfield seems to be quite interested in acquiring the lighthouse, but has not, as of yet, filed an application.







Saybrook Breakwater~~ Also located in Long Island Sound. It lies at the mouth of the Connecticut River in the town of Old Saybrook. Working in tandem with the Lynde Point Lighthouse, about a mile and a half away, it has been a working aid to navigation since 1886.







DELAWARE




Bellevue Range Rear Tower~~ Marks the entrance to the Christiana River from the larger Delaware River, this 104 foot tall skeletal tower was built in 1909. Due to river dredging over the years, the lighthouse, originally built out in the Delaware River, now stands well within the Christiana River! **note to buyer, this lighthouse is within sight and smell of nearby Cherry Island trash landfill!**






INDIANA



Michigan City East Pierhead ~~ Indiana's last surviving lighthouse. Built in 1904, this lighthouse originally used the catwalk pictured at left for access to the lighthouse from the keeper's home on shore. Please note that only the lighthouse is available, the new owner has to get permission from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, owner of the pier and catwalk, for access to the lighthouse! The Municipality of Michigan City seems to be the early frontrunner to get this lighthouse.




MAINE


Whaleback Ledge~~ This 50-foot tall granite lighthouse lies outside Kittery. Accessible only by boat, the perspective owner will have to have deep pockets, as the maintainance costs alone for this off-shore lighthouse can get very, very costly. As of yet, no party has shown any real interest.




MASSACHUSETTS






Cleveland East Ledge~~Located near the western entrance to the Cape Cod Canal, this may be the most expensive restoration project of any of this year's crop. Built in 1943, this 70 foot tall concrete lighthouse has had many years of neglect. Among other issues, the new owner must remove an extensive amount of asbestos inside the lighthouse, as well as layers of lead paint. Other than that, it makes a great Cape Cod vacation home!





MINNESOTA


Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Inner~~Also known as the Duluth Rear Range Light. New owner of this 1901 built 68 foot tall skeletal tower will have to deal with the frequent raising and closing of the large lift bridge right in its own back yard. No word, as of yet, of interested parties.




NEW JERSEY

Brandywine Shoal~~Another off-shore lighthouse. This 45-foot tall cast iron "spark plug" lighthouse was built in 1914. Unlike most off-shore caisson-based lighthouses, Brandywine is surrounded by its own little island of "rip-rap" stone protection. An easy jaunt to Philadelphia may be one of this lighthouse's best (or worse, depending on one's outlook of the City of Brotherly Love), selling points.



NEW YORK


Execution Rocks~~In Long Island Sound off of New Rochelle, the name is derived from the Revolutionary War. Legend has it, American prisoners were chained to the rocks here by the British at low tide. The prisoners would drown slowly as the tide became higher. A story like that would make great party chatter for guests of the new owners, don't you think?






Old Orchard Shoal~~Who needs a Manhattan penthouse when you could own this beauty in Lower New York Bay, about three miles offshore from Staten Island. Built in 1893, this 35 foot tall "spark plug" is in close proximity to Great Kills Park, offshore of the Gateway National Recreation Area.











West Bank Light ~~At 70 feet, it's the tallest offshore lighthouse in New York Harbor. Great views are afforded from this lighthouse, to Staten Island's South Beach and the Coney Island boardwalk. Built in 1901, the light is solar powered, but the Coast Guard won't let the new owner use the panels. There is no other source of power, it will have to be input by the buyer.




OHIO




Cleveland Harbor East Pierhead~~Originally built in 1880 for use in Rochester, New York, this lighthouse was relocated to the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland in 1911. Tower is 25 feet tall, and the new owner must be fond of walking, as the lighthouse sits at the end of a three mile long pier.







Conneaut Harbor West Breakwater~~ This 60 foot tall concrete building sits on a 23 foot tall concrete base at the very end of a long pier. Two groups are interested in acquiring this lighthouse. The first, a Jewish school which wants to educate special needs students there, and the second being an Army and Navy Union Garrison.

U. S. Lighthouse Facts

Many casual lighthouse enthusiasts will know some of the following facts about the lighthouses in the U. S., but only the very few hard-core lighthouse boosters will know all of these.
We start with the easy ones.
*The first light station on the North American continent was built in Boston Harbor in 1716. The lighthouse was destoyed during the American Revolution, and the present Boston Harbor lighthouse was built in 1783, making it the second oldest lighthouse still in existence in the U. S., (Sandy Hook, New Jersey holds the distinction as being the oldest lighthouse in the country, having been built in 1764)
*Boston Harbor also has the distinction as being the last of an era. In 1998, it became the final lighthouse to be automated. It remains, however, the last lighthouse in the country to be manned by Coast Guard personnel, performing all of the duties of a lightkeeper, except turning the light on and off.
*The last lighthouse built by the U. S. Government as an aid to navigation was Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built in 1962. It also has the distinction of being the only triangular tower in the U. S., as well as the only one with an elevator.
*The state with the most lighthouses remaining is Michigan, with 104. (Many people are surprised at this fact, as most equate lighthouses to the ocean. Storms on the great lakes can be as fiersome as any on the ocean, and there are a large amount of shipping hazards throughout the lakes.)
*The tallest lighthouse in the U. S. is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina at 207 feet, (10 feet underground, 197 feet above ground).
*The tallest West Coast lighthouses are Pigeon Point, California and Point Arena, California. Both stand 115 feet tall.
*The first lighthouse built by the U. S. Federal Government was Montauk Point, New York in 1791, (lighthouse was commissioned by president George Washington).
Now the medium-hard ones.
*The first U. S. lighthouse to have a flashing beacon was Cape Cod (Highland) Light in 1797.
*The first lighthouse to use electricity was The Statue of Liberty in 1886, (was considered a lighthouse then because it was used as an official aid to navigation).
*The first U. S. lighthouse to use a Fresnel lens was Navesink (Twin Towers), New Jersey. It was also the first coastal lighthouse to use mineral oil in its lamps, and also the first U. S. lighthouse to use an electric arc lamp.
*According to most accounts, the most photographed lighthouse in the nation is Cape Neddick, (Nubble), Maine
*The first and only nuclear powered lighthouse in the world was Baltimore Light in Maryland. In 1964, a small nuclear reactor was placed in the lighthouse. It was removed one year later.
*The first American built West Coast lighthouse was Alcatraz Island Lighthouse in 1854, (before the prison was constructed).
*The first Great Lakes Lighthouses were Buffalo, New York and Erie, Pennsylvania, both built in 1818.
*The most expensive lighthouse built in the U. S. was St. George Reef in California. Built in 1891-1892, the cost was a staggering $700,000+ (1892 dollars).
*Now the hard ones.
*It is estimated that between 1600 and 1800 light stations were built in the U. S. between 1716 to the present. Of these, only about 600 remain.
*The U. S. Coast Guard still owns and "maintains" over 400 light stations. Each year, a handful are dubbed as "surplus" by the Coast Guard and are posted as "available". According to the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, municipalities and non-profit organizations could apply for these lighthouses as long as they met certain criteria, such as forming a financial plan for reconstruction, making the lighthouse available to the public, and proof of ability to get insurance for the lighthouse, among other requirements.

Welcome to The Cape Cod Store.com's lighthouse blog. We have received countless inquiries about information on lighthouses from our website customers and visitors, asking about lighthouse info and the availability of lighthouse collectibles. We have tried to provide answers to your lighthouse info questions by creating our Lighthouse Encyclopedia, and according to your feedback and the amount of hits each page is getting, we think we've been able to produce a quality reference site for both collectors and lighthouse visitors. Many of you have commented on the ease of which you've been able to find information on particular lighthouses, a task which in the past took sometimes hours of searching through website after website, many of which contained absolutely no pertinent information whatsoever, before you either finally found the info you were seeking or just gave up from sheer exhaustion! (We know, we've done that countless times in order to weed through the fluff and get to the "brass tacks", if you will, in the process of creating each Encyclopedia page). It's still a work in progress, as each page takes awhile to create, but we're proud of our work and also proud to say that as of this posting, we now have 318 U. S. lighthouses within our data base, with LOTS more to go!

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