Lighthouses and Their Stories

A lighthouse is a structure with a powerful light that gives a signals to the sailors. All lighthouses have a very important role in keeping the sailors from harm. For thousands of years, their shining lights kept the sailors from harm, helped them determine their way, warned the sailors from unseen dangers. They are the symbol of hope and safe returns.

There are no lighthouses that are the same. They all have a lantern room, which is the most important room in a lighthouse. That is where the beacon, the light is located. The walls of the lantern room are made of glass so the light can be seen at night.

World’s first lighthouse was built in 280 B.C  in Alexandria, Egypt, The Pharos Lighthouse.  At the top, it  had a giant statue of the Greek God of the Sea, Poseidon. Every night, a bonefire was lit at the top of the Pharos Lighthouse, the fire was visible from 3o miles away. Unfortunately the tower was destroyed by and earthquake in 1303 A.D. Today we call people who study lighthouses , a “pharologists”. The name comes from that famous Pharos Lighthouse.

The first lighthouse in US was built on Little Brewster Island in 1716, which was destroyed during the Revolutionary War and rebuilt in 1783.  The Hillsboro Inlet lighthouse has a 2 million candlepower beacon and can be spotted 25 miles out to sea. It is also the last Florida lighthouse to be built on shore. It was built in 1907. There are about 680 lighthouses remaining in the US. The oldest original lighthouse in the US is the Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey. It was built in 1764, and is still flashing it's light today. The tallest lighthouse is Cape Hatteras, NC -196 ft. built in 1872.