Government Information on Lighthouses

Responsibility for and eminence of lighthouses has been the responsibility of the federal government since 1789. The federal government at that time took the responsibility of colonial lighthouses from the states and Congress made appropriations for necessary funds. This began the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The administration for this Service switched hands between the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department many times before being consolidated by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939. He combined the Lighthouse Service with the Coast Guard where it has remained. Coast Guard employees rarely man the lighthouses at this time, but it is still an important part of the service's heritage and history.

This is a guide to the information the government holds on lighthouses as well as to the sites they sponsor for lighthouses on the East coast.

Sources for Information

National Park Service

Within the National Park History Program, lighthouse information is abundant in the National Maritime Initiative. It was established to preserve America's maritime heritage. This site has 6 main directories for lighthouse information.

Maritime Resources Here you can find lighthouses and light ships within the National Park System listed by state. Each lighthouse or ship is clickable to take you directly to that site.

Publicly Accessible Lighthouses Here is a listing by region (Gulf Coast, Great Lakes) of the lighthouses that are accessible to the public for touring. Calling ahead for schedules is recommended.

Lighthouse Heritage This page has many features. They have links to the 1994 inventory that lists the lighthouses within the Park Service. The guidance section lists other organizations and sources for further lighthouse information. This includes links to lighthouses organizations such as the U.S. Lighthouse Society; sources for historical records such as the U.S. Coast Guard; and lighthouse publications such as a lighthouse reading list. Frequently asked questions are also included on this page.

Grants Authorized by the National Maritime Heritage Act, grants are awarded to help state and local governments as well as private organizations preserve the history of America's maritime heritage, including lighthouses. Links are provided to the 1998 summary of awards and to those still pending. You can also find out exactly what is funded and read the act itself that provides the funds.

Landmarks This page has links to the National Historic Landmarks Survey that seeks out, finds, and determines whether a particular site meets the criteria of a National Landmark.

About Us Here is explained exactly what the Initiative sets out to do. This includes descriptions of how the Park Service surveys, evaluates, and preserves important maritime resources. This page also provides a list of contact information if you wanted to ask someone further information. Publication information is also listed, including a link to the Historic Lighthouse Preservation Handbook that can be downloaded with Adobe software for free.

U.S. Coast Guard

As part of the Historian's Office, the U.S. Coast Guard provides information and educational resources for lighthouses, light ships, and Aids to Navigation. The site contains the following categories of information:

Teacher's Resource for Grades K-4 This page can be printed and used in the classroom to teach children the story of the lighthouse, what they look like with pictures, where they are located, as well as projects students can do, a reading list, and a glossary of terms.

Historically Famous Lighthouses This page lists these famous lighthouses by state then gives a short history about each one. A bibliography of sources used is also provided.

A History of U.S. Lightships This is a "paper" written by Willard Flint on Lightship history. If you need more information, a contact person and ways to reach him is provided at the bottom of the article.

Interesting Lighthouse Facts This page provides links to about 12 topics such as the highest lighthouse, the first lighthouse to use electricity, and the first built completely by the federal government.

Lighthouse Evolution and Typology This gives a good introduction to the history of lighthouses in the United States followed by a chronology of lighthouse "eras". Then, categories of lighthouse by building method are listed with information on that method and examples of lighthouses built with it.

Aids to Navigation Bibliography If you would like to find out more information about what is provided at this site, this bibliography is the source. The Coast Guard historian Scott Price has compiled this with the following categories: relevant periodicals, information for the U.S. Lighthouse Board, general aids to navigation, lighthouses, lenses, and light keepers, lightships, buoy tenders, and radio and satellite navigational aids.

Lighthouses: Then and Now This is further history with detail given to the evolution of the tower but also including history on the Office of Navigation.

Remaining Lighthouses This is another list, compiled by the U.S. Lighthouse Society, of all remaining lighthouses in the United States, listed by state.

Researching Lighthouses and Keepers This page provided website and address information for research, mainly at the National Archives.

Chronology of Aids to Navigation This provides a good introduction to lighthouses history and then a timeline of relevant events.

National Archives

Many of the historic records of lighthouses are housed at the National Archives. For primary lighthouse sources, you can enter an expert search for the holdings of Record Group 26. This provides information for lighthouse photographs, films, video, holdings, and ordering information.

Library of Congress

A majority of lighthouse information is contained in 2 sources, the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). These contain measured drawings, photographs, written historical and architectural information for U.S. sites dating from the 17^th to the 20^th centuries. The Library of Congress is in the process of digitizing these records and making them accessible on the web. At this site, you can search for a particular lighthouse or lighthouses in general and it will give a list of the records that they hold, indicating whether or not the record has been digitized. If not, ordering information is provided after the search.

NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a photography collection that is searchable for lighthouses. This organization provides the photographs and information on lighthouses throughout history, in relation to the tides and coastlines, and charts.

Lighthouses of the East coast

Maritime History in the South East This is a page with Southeastern lighthouse information specifically, organized by time period from pre-historic through the present.

This is a list of all of the lighthouses within the National Park System on the East coast listed by state. Each site provides a photograph of the structure, location information, year it was established, structure details, if it is open to the public, status on the National Register of Historic Places, and a link (if applicable) to a non-NPS website.

Florida

Fowey Rocks Lighthouse

Dry Tortugas (Loggerhead Key) Lighthouse

TORTUGAS HARBOR (FORT JEFFERSON) LIGHT

Santa Rosa Lifesaving Station

Georgia

Cockspur Island Lighthouse

Maine

Baker Island Light

Bass Harbor Head Light

Bear Island Lighthouse

Massachusetts