Kidston Island Light_NS

 The Telephone -

Alexander Graham Bell, his wife Mabel and two young children found this part of upper Nova Scotia to their liking, when in 1885 on a cruising vacation to Newfoundland, they first discovered this area including Bras d'Or Lake. Within several years, the Bells acquired 600 acres on the peninsula seen in the distance behind the lighthouse. This area of the small peninsula was renamed Beinn Bhreagh by Bell, meaning "beautiful mountain" in the Scotish Gaelic or Goidelic language, since it was reminiscent of his birthplace in Edinburgh Scotland. A small house was built on the property overlooking Baddeck Bay to the south from the property and with clear views of the original lighthouse built in 1875 on Kidston Island (formerly known as Mutton Island).

By 1893 the Bells had completed a larger, turreted 'summer house' with a mere 32 rooms that has become known as The Point. The purchase of the land and the building of the mansion was primarily possible due to Bell's invention and subsequent patent of the telephone in 1876. In his adjacent laboratories and on site boatyard, Bell along with other partners, went on to accomplish additional experiments such as the tetrahedral kite, the Canada's first controlled powered flight airplane, known as the AEA Silver Dart in 1909, and the HD-4 Hydrofoil boat in 1919. The boat was intended to be used as a submarine chaser and did set a world watercraft speed record at the time of 114 km/h (71mph). Bell and his wife both passed away in 1922 and are buried on their estate. 

The first lighthouse, built in 1875 on the NE tip of Kidston Island was intended to light the way for mariners into Baddeck Harbour. It was operationally replaced with a fifty foot tall, more visible light in 1912. However, both towers remained in place for many years but the original tower was razed in 1959 after falling into disrepair. By 1991, the second tower built in 1912, received a major replacement and the result is as seen in the photo above. Access to Kidston Island and the lighthouse is only by way of scheduled tour boats. This photo was shot with a 500mm telephoto lens with tripod from the shores of the harbour in the town of Baddeck.

Peggys Cove Out To Sea_NS Sleepy Hamlet By The Sea -

Peggy's Cove may seem like a sleepy hamlet but one visit there will convince you otherwise. This photo, for example, was taken next to a line of people getting ready to board this tour boat. Along either side of me at the end of the rickety old dock were ten other people trying to get that perfect photo of this little part of the village. I say village because it really is just a small collection of historic buildings that once made up an active fishing town. Sure there are a few houses scattered up on the surrounding hills but for the most part the buildings are left historic. Development here is not only discouraged but is against their local zoning codes and building ordinances. Tourist goods abound in most of the buildings down by the shoreline. Fishing still occurs here but on a much smaller scale. This town has become a tourist destination where literally thousands of camera toting foreigners and Canadians come to view the restful quaintness of this picturesque place (except for all the tourists). It is located on several large wave washed granite rock outcroppings void of any natural vegetation other than ground cover and seaweed. The cove in this photo formed naturally between some of these large outcropping knolls.
Peggy's Cove is located right on the Atlantic coastline about 45 minutes south of Halifax in Nova Scotia. Depending on the time of day, there can be as many as ten tourist buses in the village, most of which park up on the east knoll by the lighthouse and the Sou'wester Restaurant. While cars can meander through the village on a narrow two lane road, there is no large scale parking areas other than at the eastern knoll by the lighthouse. From there, people are encouraged to stroll about the village. 

There are a few different stories of how this place got it's name. The first recorded name of the cove in 1766 was Eastern Point Harbour or Peggs Harbour, however the village was not recognized officially as a township until 1868. The second version is that it is named after St. Margaret's Bay, the larger body of water directly to the west. Peggy is a shortened nickname for Margaret. The bay was named after the wife of an Irish immigrant in 1770. The third and more popular version of its origin are from a book by deceased local writer, artist and sculptor William DeGarthe. In his book, a schooner tragically shipwrecked on Halibut Rock, the point on which the lighthouse is built, and the only survivor was a small girl that swam ashore and was taken in by local fishermen. Her name was Margaret. She married a local fisherman and became a local resident for many years. She gathered fame in the area as "Peggy of the Cove".
 

Grays Harbor Light_Westport WA

Grays Harbor Lighthouse -

Designed by German-born architect Carl Leick, the Grays Harbor Light, also known as the Westport Light by locals, was built to mark the entrance to the only significant port on the Washington coast between Cape Flattery and the mouth of the Columbia River. In the latter part of the 1800's, Grays Harbor became America's largest exporter of lumber, over 60 million board feet by 1890. Since 1854 locals had petitioned the government for a monumental navigational light to identify the harbor entrance to mariners. In 1855 Grays Harbor was home port to over 18 whaling ships. Petroleum production eventually superceded the need for whale oil and lumber production and fish exports dominated Grays Harbor marine traffic. Fishing on the Washington coast was productive by nothing like lumber exports and ship building. Nine steam ships were completed in Grays Harbor shipyards in the early 1890's and it was very evident that Grays Harbor needed a lighthouse. It wasn't until 1884 Congress finally began funding the construction of a light. But delay after delay impacted the start of construction which began in ernest in 1897. The light was dedicated and opened in 1898.

Carl Leick initially moved to Astoria Oregon in the early 1880's and then to Portland in 1889 when he began work as a draftsman for the Engineering office of the thirteenth lighthouse district of the U.S. Light House Board. He eventually became assistant superintendent of inspections with the Lighthouse Board. He is credited for the major designs of over 25 significant structures in Washington State and Oregon including lighthouses at Lime Kiln, Mukilteo, Admiralty Head, Grays Harbor and Northhead Lighthouses in Washington and the second light at Cape Arago in Oregon. By Leick's own admission and others, the lighthouse at Grays Harbor is his best masterpiece. His motto while working on the designs as a light station designer was to "Build 'em Stout and Build 'em to Last". Leick retired from the U.S. Light House Board in 1926.

This lighthouse is Washington's tallest at 107 feet and the third highest along the west coast of the U.S. It has a 12 foot thick foundation of sandstone and the brick walls at the base are four feet thick and taper as the tower extends upward. The original clamshell Fresnel lens design in the lantern room is still in place and is fairly unique when it comes to U.S. lighthouses. The original light was rotated by a weight inside the tower and floated in a trough of mercury for frictionless rotation. The light was originally seen 16 miles out to sea. The lighthouse was electrified in 1931. In 1992 the third-order Fresnel lens was turned off and the light was replaced with a 35-watt lamp system from New Zealand ( ! ) that now can be seen 19 miles out. 

Christian Zauner was head light keeper from 1898 until 1925. On April 18, 1906 he entered in his log that shortly after 5:00am he felt substantial ground shock waves that caused the weight inside the tower, used to rotate the lens, to swing like a pendulum. The 135 metal stairs inside the tower rattled to the point he felt it unsafe to use the stairs. The shock waves were from the earthquake that devastated San Francisco. But the tower stood and had no significant damage.

Visited this lighthouse in late May 2019. The flag was lowered from the lantern level balcony in honor of Memorial Day but also fitting in celebration of the fourth of July, American Independence Day.  The American lighthouses scattered throughout the country, including the Great Lakes, are another sign of our freedom where in a free enterprise system helps marine traffic get the job done whether it be moving goods or people safely up and down our coastlines. The U.S. Coast Guard has been instrumental since 1939 in keeping lights maintained and operational. Most have stood the test of time and are a testament to the American spirit, ingenuity and determination. Until the mid-point of this century, most of these lighthouses have been manned by men AND women who sacrificed of themselves through extremely harsh circumstances to keep American waterways safe.

This photo was taken on May 26, 2019. Camera: a Nikon D850; Nikkor lens 24-70mm f/2.8G at 38mm focal length; exposure compensation of -1.7EV; aperture f/16 with a shutter speed of 1/125s; ISO 160.

Lydia Ann Light_Texas

Who's Got the Lens ? -

The Texas Gulf coastline is over 400 miles long and an almost continuous string of barrier islands. The few gaps that do exist between these islands become vital entries into harbors and inland bays needed for shipping traffic. Such is the case at Port Aransas where a natural and shifting gap in the island chain became a strategic point of access for the Confederacy and Union forces during the Civil War. The inland harbor access at Port Aransas and all the way up to Corpus Christi was vital for supplying the Confederate forces with munitions, food and providing for cotton export. The Union forces were bound and determined to stop this free flow of supplies with a blockade and seizing the town if necessary. Whoever controlled the lighthouse also controlled the shipping flow both day and night.

What once existed in 1847 as the natural harbor access between Mustang Island and St. Joseph Island was a series of lit buoys that had to be constantly maintained to be kept functional. When a regular steamship service route was established between New Orleans and Port Aransas in 1852, a permanent lighthouse was needed. The federal government acquired land from the State of Texas for a life-saving station at the harbor but also needed land for a tower which would guide ships through the channel. The federal government bought 25 acres of land known as Harbor Island just north of the natural channel access into the harbor. Harbor Island was and still is nothing more than seasonal adjusting marshland, sometimes inundated with water and other times just plain wet, in other words a bayou. After several surveys and committee meetings, a decision was made by the U.S. Lighthouse Board for a permanent screw-pile foundation and brick octagonal light tower that could withstand the gulf storms and marshy-like conditions of Harbor Island. Congress allocated $12,500 for its construction. It was also clear that all the island's access between structures would need to be by way of elevated walkways.

In 1855 a schooner carrying the bricks for the new lighthouse sank on a nearby sand bar. The crew was rescued but the schooner and the brick were lost. New bricks arrived in 1856 and the lighthouse tower was completed and first lit in 1857.

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, this entire area was under the control of the Confederacy. Fearing that Union forces would seize the light tower and thereby control daylight and night time harbor traffic and interrupt the much needed supplies for the Confederacy, the lantern room fresnel lens was removed and buried in the marshland behind the keeper's quarters. They would retrieve if after they had won the war, or at least so they thought. That original lens has never been found and remains buried under silt and sand of the marshland. In late 1861, the Union Navy began a blockade of the Texas gulf coast islands. In February of 1862, US Marines aboard the USS Afton seized the town of Port Aransas. They virtually leveled the entire town. A few of the original buildings still exist. The town's people abandoned the town for fear of living under Union tyranny. The possession of the lighthouse traded back and forth between the North and South several times throughout 1862. Then on Christmas Day 1862, Confederate General John Bankhead Magruder ordered the destruction of the entire light tower but only succeeded in destroying the top 20 feet, including the spiral staircase, of the tower with 2 kegs of gunpowder. With a Union garrison deployed at the lighthouse in 1863, Confederate troops attacked the lighthouse and killed 20 Union troops. A week later, Union troops regained control of the light tower and the island and held it until the end of the war. After the war, in 1867, the tower damage was repaired by the U.S. government. But the original fourth order fresnel was not to be found. The original brick used was a special colored orange red brown brick. For the reconstruction, the same color brick had to be found. A home in Mobile Alabama constructed of this same type brick was bought by the federal government and demolished for its special brick color.

By 1952 the shifting sands on the coastline at Port Aransas had moved the channel to the point that the light tower was no longer a significant help in guiding ships accurately into the harbor. It was deactivated and auctioned to private ownership in 1955. It changed private ownership several times but as of 1988 became owned by Charles Butt, the CEO of a large Texas grocery chain H-E-B. He began a slow process of restoring the lighthouse tower and the ancillary buildings. It is the only lighthouse in Texas with a permanent keeper who lives on the premises. It is the second oldest lighthouse in the State of Texas.