The Old Out and The New In

Every year at this time, we tend to look back and remember events that occurred in our lives during the old or outgoing year. Some of those events brought sorrow and pain while others brought joy and happiness. These emotions are examples of changes occurring in our lives, but most everyone looks forward with new hope that the New Year will bring better days for them and their families than the previous year.

Quite often I use the expression, “Nothing Stays The Same,” to summarize a change that occurred in my life. It can apply to people as well as things on earth. 

The Castle Hill Lighthouse in Rhode Island, pictured below, is an example of change. When the lighthouse was built in 1890, the lantern room was equipped with a fifth-order Fresnel lens with a red light. The engineers and people who installed that light probably thought it would be there indefinitely. However, in 1957 when the lighthouse was automated, the Fresnel lens was removed and replaced with a 300-mm plastic lens. It was the old out and the new in that created change for many lives. However, that new light continues an active light.

                                  
                            HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Light Longest Remembered

This time of year people seldom think about lighthouses. Our thoughts and attention are devoted toward the Christmas season. We spend time shopping for family and friends, giving gifts, sharing food and fellowship, and enjoying the sparkle of colorful lights. Each year as part of our celebration, we talk about the beautiful Christmas lights. But, the one light that has been remembered longer and talked about more years than the light from any of the lighthouses is the Star that shone bright in the Bethlehem sky the night Jesus was born in a manger.

                            Merry Christmas

A Canadian Beauty - Bunker Island Lighthouse

Located at Bunker Island in Yarmouth Harbor, Nova Scotia, Canada, the Bunker Island Lighthouse is better known by the locals as the "Bug Light" and is the third lighthouse built here. The first lighthouse built in 1874 had a wood tower. The second lighthouse tower, also made of wood, was built on top of the dwelling in 1924. The Keeper, his wife, six children, and two dogs occupied the dwelling. The third lighthouse, pictured above, was built in 1959 of concrete. At the time of my visit here in 2001, this was an active lighthouse with a red light.

Remembering Pearl Harbor and The Lighthouses of Hawaii

Let me be clear about this post. There is no intention on my part to take away or decrease the honor and respect we should have for those individuals who gave their lives defending the USA. This post is only to highlight the lighthouses.

On Dec 7th 1941 at 7:48 am, over three-hundred-fifty Japanese Fighter Planes attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This attack destroyed many lives and property, and started World War II. 

 In school as a young boy, I learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor. For you it may have been a different time and place. In fact, you may have a loved one who was there and told you of his or her personal experience that dreadful Dec morning. No matter when we learned of it, each year since the tragedy we are reminded via various media of the tragic event. As it should be, the spotlight is on the attack and the loss of lives. To my knowledge, none of the reports say anything about whether or not lighthouses were impacted. This week as I remembered Pearl Harbor, for some reason I wondered about the lighthouses.

So, did the attack on Pearl Harbor have any impact on Hawaii's lighthouses and their keepers? My research revealed several examples to the affirmative, but for brevity I'll share these few.
 

The Barbers Point Lighthouse pictured below, the Makapu'u Lighthouse, and Diamond Head Lighthouse are all located near Honolulu on the eastern end of the island of Oahu. These three are part of the major lighthouses mentioned below the picture. Most likely, the Keepers for each of these lighthouses saw some of the fighter planes flying overhead or nearby their lighthouse that morning.

The Head Keeper at the Barbers Point Lighthouse documented his observation of the attack. In a letter he wrote a few days later, he described several events which occurred at his light station that morning. About one of those events he wrote the following: "At 8:00 am many planes were seen overhead, both Japanese and ours. Dog fighting continued for twenty minutes, bullets hitting the ground in bursts. Then all planes headed south, our planes chasing them. Seemed to have come from the windward side, and left the island on Barbers Point side." (Credit: LighthouseFriends for the quote from Keeper's letter.)

                                              (Credit: Kraig Anderson; LighthouseFriends)

Throughout the islands of Hawaii there are a total of forty-three (43) lighthouses. Nine (9) of them are classified as major lights and thirty-four (34) are minor lights. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, every lighthouse had its light darkened and continued dark for the duration of the war. (Credit: LighthouseFriends.)

During the war, the Keeper's Dwelling at Diamond Head Lighthouse housed a Coast Guard Radio Station. 

I've been to Hawaii and visited the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, but regret I was not able to visit a lighthouse.

A Canada Beauty - The Cape Forchu Lighthouse

Located near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, the Cape Forchu Lighthouse sets on a point reaching out into the Gulf of Maine. The first tower was built here in 1839 and the double story keepers dwelling was built in 1912. This current tower is 75-feet tall and built in 1962. Keepers at the lighthouse were discontinued in 1993 due to automation. In 1996 the Friends of Yarmouth Light Society opened the 1912 keepers house to visitors, and restored the station grounds.

At the time of my visit here in 2001, the lighthouse continued as an active light. A small museum occupied part of the keeper's house and a tea room was located in the assistant's house. I was privileged to meet a Mr. Smith who used to live in the lighthouse with his parents and seven brothers and sisters. He was eighteen years of age when his father became the lighthouse keeper, and Smith helped his father by working some of the night shifts. He told of seeing his father having to use an axe to chop ice away from the entrance door of the tower so they could get in. Mr. Smith showed me the room where he lived in the house, and the rooms where his siblings lived. 

This lighthouse holds the distinction of being the last lighthouse in Nova Scotia that was tended by resident light-keepers. Of all the lighthouses I saw and visited in Canada, this one is my favorite because of Mr. Smith. He provided history about the lighthouse and his personal experiences as an assistant to his father, one of the Keepers of The Cape Forchu Lighthouse.