Lighthouses: Info and Inspiration

Battery Point Lighthouse, Crescent City, California - June 2023

Reliable. Steady. Offering safe harbor, dependable navigation, and wise warnings. When I think of lighthouses as they were used prior to modern maritime technology, I picture a tower, resolute in the midst of lightning and the crashing of ocean waves, its beam of light slicing through murky darkness to guide a storm-tossed ship to shore. 

Lighthouses were designed to provide guidance through treacherous waterways, and they also served as warnings. For example, Eddystone Lighthouse, 9 miles south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England, is built on submerged rocks - this lighthouse serves as a warning to stay away. Eddystone was built four times, testifying to the extremely inhospitable conditions.

Lighthouse keepers were mostly men. Ida Lewis, for whom Arlington National Cemetery’s Lewis Drive is named, was keeper for the U.S. Lighthouse Service from 1879-1911, at Lime Rock Lighthouse off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island. Her father and mother were the keepers before her. During her time she pulled many people from the sea, and even rescued one sheep, according to this “Harper’s Weekly” article on Ida Lewis.

There’s another lady associated with lighthouses. The Statue of Liberty was categorized as a federal lighthouse at the time of its dedication in 1886. It was also the first lighthouse in the U.S. to be powered by electricity. 

Lighthouse “day marks” are the paint colors and patterns which make each one unique and also differentiate it from its background - a red-striped lighthouse in front of a white cliff face for example. Lighthouses also were distinguishable from one another, especially when several were in close proximity, by their individual light patterns. 

Years ago I read the book Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity. In it, the authors used the analogy of a lighthouse to demonstrate how to attract compatible clients. This idea has really stayed with me - applicable to not just business but every area of life. 

Lighthouses represent consistency, resilience. They are reliable - never pretending to be something they are not. They stand very tall, very proud, proclaiming what they are, what they represent. When huge waves crash, jagged lightning splits the sky, and thunder roars, the lighthouse is steadfast. Lighthouses are often in dangerous places and rough conditions - the pummeling from sky and sea at times unrelenting, but they stick around and do what they were made to do. Through it all, they shine their light.

Learn More/Main Source
MapQuest Travel Article: How Lighthouses Work