Majesty and Comfort
Categories: Mystery & Suspense , Travel , Nonfiction , Fiction
I love lighthouses. This past weekend I stood in awe of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at night, resplendent in the light of the full moon and sending out its reassuring beam across nearly 20 miles of ocean.
Dawson Carr's 2002 chronicle Cape Hatteras Lighthouse: Sentinel of the Shoals tells the history of the beautiful lighthouse, including the monumental 1999 3-week move of the structure to a safer spot further from the edge of the ocean. It was moved inland from the encroaching surf by lifting the entire building and hydraulically pushing it forward very slowly along a track to its new location 2900 feet away.
An interesting book about lighthouses that were not as lucky as Hatteras is Lost Lighthouses, full of true stories such as my favorite about Deer Island Lighthouse in the harbor near Boston, where one of the keepers had a cat who would dive from the platform, catch a fish, and climb back up the ladder with it.
For anyone who loves lighthouses and loves cats, it doesn't get any better than that!
The people who dedicate their lives to lighthouses have interesting stories to tell. The Keeper of Lime Rock (2002), Lenore Skomal's biography of the famous lady lighthouse keeper Ida Lewis who kept the light and saved at least 18 from drowning, is a life that reads more exciting than fiction. Guardians of the Lights: Stories of U.S. Lighthouse Keepers (1995) and the fascinating Lighthouse Families (1997) tell of the families that grew up taking care of the lighthouses.
Full of vintage photographs and spare, succinct information, The Golden Age of American Lighthouses: A Nostalgic Look at U.S. Lights from 1850-1939 (2002) presents a history of lighthouse keepers' lives with just as many photos of people as the lights they tended.
A history of lighthouses all over the world, from the first great light Pharos at Alexandria up to today, is beautifully told in Beacon on the Rock (2001) by Peter Williams.
Lighthouse Encyclopedia (2004) is a large, very complete book of information.
Staying at a Lighthouse (2003) by John Grant tells of lighthouses that welcome guests.
Fiction is replete with lighthouse books. A couple of good ones are Pharos (2003) by Alice Thompson, a surreal ghost story set off the Scotland coast; and The Lighthouse (2006) by PD James, a perfect mystery. I greatly enjoy the children's books Who Sees the Lighthouse? by Ann Fearington and The Lighthouse Cat by Sue Stainton and Anne Mortimer.
