Lighthouses

Point Betsie Lighthouse near Frankfort, Michigan. June 2010.

Lighthouse keepers by the nature of their job have almost always lived far away from other people, and often have to deal with wild and dangerous weather. If the location was in a nice calm place, it wouldn't need a lighthouse! Whenever we have toured a lighthouse, the main topic of discussion -- besides the development of lighting technology for the needed light -- has often been how lonely lighthouse keepers were, even if their families lived with them. Also, how hard it was for them to obtain food and other supplies during bad weather and other bad conditions. 

Cape May Lighthouse, Cape May, New Jersey.  October, 2015.

Lighthouse at Staten Island, Argentina, built 1884, rebuilt as a museum around 1995. One of the most isolated locations on earth!
It was only used briefly because it was badly placed and caused more shipwrecks than it prevented. October, 2017

The challenge to millions of people like us, now avoiding the coronavirus through isolation, is trivial compared to the life of a lighthouse keeper! In comparing ours to other isolated situations, I've mentioned how we enjoy electronic communication and entertainment, how we can have 6-foot-distanced conversations with neighbors, and so on. And there's no reasonable possibility that our pantry will be empty because bad weather made a shopping trip impossible.

Because most lighthouses at present use remote technology and run unattended, most of these photos depict historic sites. However, at Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America, a legendary place of incredibly numerous shipwrecks, a lighthouse keeper and his family still live in incredible isolation from all modern society. When we were exceptionally able to go ashore and climb up to the heights there, the lighthouse keeper, in his military uniform, and his family lined up and greeted us and shook hands with all the passengers and guides from our ship, the National Geographic Explorer.

Cape Horn lighthouse. A Chilean naval officer and his family live here and care for the premises. October, 2017.

Runde, Norway. An extremely isolated island. June, 2015.

Discovery Park, Seattle, Washington,  September, 2018.

Point Loma, San Diego, California. Original lighthouse built 1855.
Though now in San Diego it was once quite far from other people.  January, 2009.

Lighthouse at Loophead, Ireland. October, 2016.

Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge Lighthouse, Hawaii, August, 2016.

Thinking about lighthouses and the lives of their inhabitants just to amuse myself, I collected these photos of lighthouses I have seen: some from a distance, some up close and even inside. On each photo, I have noted the location and the date when we visited there. I think the main reason I wanted to look at these photos is that lighthouses are irresistibly beautiful and a fascinating accomplishment of civilization for centuries. So I hope you enjoy these pictures too!

And the news we dare not contemplate here: a field hospital is being set up in the athletic complex less than a mile from our house. A field hospital is needed because all the medical facilities here in Ann Arbor will not be enough for the unambiguous predictions of infection rates coming in the next week or so.

Blog post and photos copyright 2010-2020, 

© mae sander for maefood dot blogspot dot com