Lighthouses of America

Our first lighthouses in the world were actually given to us by Nature. Sailors sometimes used landmarks such as glowing volcanoes to guide them.  In the Ancient World, trading ships were eventually built enabling navigators to sail long distances to buy and sell goods.  In the days of wooden ships with sails, the wind and waves could easily push them against the rocks and wreck them.  And so, the need for lighthouses in the world as warning signals arose.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was a lighthouse–the famous Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt. It is the first one that is recorded in history and was built about 280 BC.  Those records tell us that it was the tallest one ever built — 450 ft. (comparable to a 45-story skyscraper) and used an open fire at the top as a source of light.  (Can you imagine being the keeper, climbing to the top to light the fire, and then forgetting the matches or whatever was used in those days to start a fire?)

It is not so easy to define exactly what we mean by a lighthouse, and various organizations and individuals have used very different definitions when describing or classifying lighthouses.  Clearly, all lighthouses are lighted aids to navigation, but not all lighted aids are considered to be lighthouses.

Some definitions are not controversial. An aid to navigation is a structure placed on or near navigable water to provide visual guidance to mariners. A beacon is an aid to navigation that is fixed in place (that is, not floating).  A lighted beacon or lightbeacon is a beacon displaying a light, while an unlit beacon is called a day beacon.  Often, a lighted beacon is simply called a light.

There are approximately 772 lighthouses in the United States.  Where are the lighthouses around the world: United States, Caribbean, Canada, Bermuda, West Indies, Mexico, Central America, South America, Pacific and Indian Oceans, Australia, Africa, Europe and Asia.

The oldest operating lighthouse in America is the one at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, which guards the entrance to New York harbor.  It’s the only lighthouse remaining from the colonial period, according to Tom Laverty, president of the New Jersey Lighthouse Society.

Not all lighthouses are located on the sea. Some are on rivers, like the Hudson River.  Others are far inland, such as the ones on the Great Lakes.  In fact, Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state, with over 120.  There are more than 300 on the Great Lakes combined.
Lighthouses of the world represent enthusiast all over the world. who collect lighthouse memorabilia, art work, books and visit lighthouses on vacation.