Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s for June 2, 2025
Preserving a Legacy, The United States Lighthouse Society: For the past 40 years, the United States Lighthouse Society (USLHS) has been in the forefront of efforts to preserve this essential part of maritime heritage. The USLHS has built a comprehensive research library, both in the physical form and digital form. The library contains books, maps and documents that detail the history of lighthouses in America and around the world. The Society’s mission goes beyond simple restoration, but seeks to keep the stories of these remarkable structures alive, for future generations to understand the vital role that lighthouses played in the safety and development of coastal communities.
Part of the mission of the USLHS is to offer national grants specifically for lighthouse preservation. These grants have enabled the restoration of many lighthouses, many of which have been in danger of being lost forever.
Long before the invention of the compass or modern technologies, early seafarers went on voyages using the most primal of tools, the sun, stars, the wind and the sea tides. The North Star holds it position in the northern sky about the earths axis, in a fixed position. But even before the tools for sea faring voyages improved, navigation remained very dangerous. The sea was open to hidden reefs and shoals, the rocky coastlines, unpredictable weather, and treacherous currants. But because of these hazards to navigation, it is the reason lighthouses began to rise as the guardians of the coastlines.
Each lighthouse is positioned to warn mariners of these hazards, while also providing a point of reference that could mean the difference between life and death at sea. As the technology advanced the lighthouse evolved from simple bonfires to towering stone structures with powerful Fresnel lens, that had the ability to project their light across miles of open water. They would always be a symbol of hope to the seafaring mariners.
So why do lighthouses continue to capture the heart and minds of people all around the world? They are symbols of solitude and community, standing along on rocky cliffs or the sandy shores, yet always offering a guiding light for those in need. Through their work, the USLHS, whether through research, restoration or education, it ensures that the legacy of lighthouses remains an essential part of our nation history.
I want to give thanks and my great appreciation to the people at ‘The United States Lighthouse Society’, their 40th Anniversary edition of ‘The keepers Log’, Number Four, 2024, for the information as written here today. When ever visiting a lighthouse, and if from Michigan you can’t go very far in any direction with out running into one of them, in your thoughts, and remember this group when every you see a lighthouse still standing.
On this wee note, till next month Monday July 7, 2025.
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Linda Osborne Cynowa 