‘Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast’

Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for Monday October 7, 2024

Well fall is here, the weather is cooling, the leaves are turning warm colors and the sun is lowering in the sky. As mentioned last month, my third lighthouse book was published by Arcadia on September 16th. The lights on the Pacific coast have a rather different look to the lights on the Atlantic or even the Great Lakes lights. The type of lighthouses used always took the terrain of the area into thought. Most of these lights would be built on high cliffs or bluffs opposed to our sand beaches. Sometimes that would be an advantage, but many times not, with taking the usual erosion into consideration.

Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast will explore many of the lighthouse and breakwater, piers and reef lights in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. Whether it is Eldred Rock Lighthouse in Alaska or Diamond Head in Hawaii, then as now, people have loved to visit the lights while on holiday and to send postcards back home. Many of these lights are still in existence and can be visited, thanks to the historical societies and associations that still maintain them.

I have also found that many times after the book has been sent to the publisher, I find that elusive vintage card, that I have spent so much time trying to acquire, and as in this case that was once again most true.

Destruction Island Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse on Destruction Island, a rocky island that is part of the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge situated about 3 miles off the coast of Jefferson County, Washington, in the northwest area of the United States. After the 94-foot conical tower was complete, it was covered in iron plating to protect it from the elements. The tower’s first order Fresnel lens stood 147 feet above sea level and had a visible of 24 miles. The US Coast Guard assumed responsibility for the lighthouse in 1939, till its automation in November 1968. This young keeper and his family would live a very desolate life on this island as with many other lighthouse positions for most keepers, but having pride in what they accomplished was forefront in all the keepers and their young families.

This week I was contacted by my publisher with the news, I have been granted a contract to complete the fourth of my set of lighthouses postcards books, with ‘Lighthouse of the Southern Atlantic and Gulf State’. This one will encompass the states of Maryland down to Florida and around to coast to the state of Texas. As I have found, that in researching the different areas of these books, there were usual different situations, such as in the Pacific, you would be dealing with earthquakes and the tsunamis that always seemed to accompany the quakes. Now on the southern Atlantic and Gulf area, it seems to be Hurricanes and the Civil War that have left their devilish marks on these lights. The finished book will be due at Arcadia by mid January, with a publication date of mid summer.

All images used are from the author’s collection, and on that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday November 4th, 2024

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