Library Staff Directory
Posted Aug 17, 2018
This week’s #FridayReads are navigating readers to some of our select lighthouse books.
Bonfires & Beacons: Great Lakes Lighthouses by Larry and Patricia Wright
The Great Lakes – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior – are the world’s largest inland lakes, consisting of over 8,000 miles of shoreline. In Bonfires & Beacons: Great Lakes Lighthouses, Larry and Patricia Wright recognize the important role that Great Lakes lighthouses play in helping ships of all sizes navigate dangerous waters. From short wooden towers to large brick structures, Great Lakes lighthouses range in size and functionality to help ships navigate weather, rocks, shoals, jagged coastlines, storms, currents, and shifting sandbars. Before the prevalence of lighthouses, shipwrecks were common and often deadly, but as commerce flourished and larger ships sailed the lakes, lighthouses advanced with specific flash patterns, fog signals, and paint markings. Today, many lighthouses have been decommissioned, are left in ruin, or have been torn down, but Bonfires & Beacons attempts to capture these important icons before they disappear completely.
Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse by Eric Jay Dolin
While modern-day ships use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and satellite-monitored shipping lanes, there’s still a fair number of lighthouses that sprinkle America’s coastlines. Historian Eric Jay Dolin celebrates these American icons in his book, Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse. Beginning with America’s first lighthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, Dolin explores lighthouses across the country from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Coast, including the Last Frontier – Alaska. As government expanded in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, both private and public interests supported the lighting of ports, reefs, and coasts, and the lighthouses constructed provided both warning and hope for the growing nation. Complete with 150 illustrations and photographs, Dolin’s tribute to America’s lighthouses shares the stories of technological advances, engineering marvels, and the people who built them.
Wisconsin Lighthouses: A Photographic and Historical Guide by Ken and Barb Wardius
Throughout time, lighthouses have been a deep-rooted maritime tradition. In that vein, lighthouse enthusiasts Ken and Barb Wardius offer a thorough tour of Wisconsin’s lighthouses in Wisconsin Lighthouses: A Photographic and Historical Guide. Combined Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Winnebago have 800 miles of shoreline, and Wisconsin’s lighthouses have a strong cultural heritage of dedicated keepers, haunted structures and ghosts, and the romance of mariners traveling safely out on the open waters. The Wardiuses share tales and stories about solitude, adventure, dedication, courage, and service, plus a vocabulary guide so readers can learn correct jargon and terminology. Complete with color photographs, historical images, maps, and artifacts, Wisconsin Lighthouses acts not only as a reference guide, but also a handbook complete with status reports and directions on how to get to Wisconsin’s remaining lighthouses.
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