Be Someone's Lighthouse

Curtis Island Lighthouse, Maine

Lighthouses link us to the past and stir our imagination so much that novelists such as Virginia Woolf center stories around lighthouses. We think of the guiding light bringing someone home, we think of the fog-bound waters with only the sweeping light keeping ships and sailors safe, and we think of the keepers who lead solitary lives. The turning light in the towers, which warns ships of treacherous waters, often stands alone on an island or at the end of a distance point of land, evoking feelings of mystery, loneliness, power, and wonder. Lighthouses dot both of our coasts becoming the first symbols of land that is welcoming and strong.

The East Brother light station on a small island in the San Francisco Bay stood abandoned and vandalized until a foundation formed, raised money for renovations, and the station became a bed and breakfast. The light station needs a new caretaker as well as more funding. This past Spring, the cable bringing electricity, thus heat, to the island was damaged and the Coast Guard, which oversees the island, concluded that the price for fixing the cable was prohibitive. Again, people came to the rescue with a GoFundMe page and volunteers managed to repair the cable so that the station could continue as a bed and breakfast inn.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero, CA

The Pigeon Point Lighthouse near Pescadero in San Mateo County has guided ships since 1872. The Fresnel light has been replaced by an automatic LED beacon, but you can still see the original Fresnel on display. It is an amazing piece of craftsmanship, 16 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter, and worth the trip to the lighthouse to just marvel at the intricacy of the huge glass lens. A hostel also operates on the property.

On both of our coasts, lighthouses still work, though most of their purpose has been supplanted by GPS and other navigational aids. They are protected by the Lighthouse Act of 1789 and also by people who care about keeping their history and ideas alive. To celebrate the lore and beauty of lighthouses we have designated August 7 as National Lighthouse Day.

Luckily for artists and photographers, lighthouses still exist. Because of their locations, they make perfect composition material. In my watercolor class, our instructor presented us with a photo of a lighthouse with a station where personnel lived. The buildings near light towers are usually simple geometric structures with or without porch roofs above the front door. I attempted to paint this lighthouse and after two tries put the paintings in my "It's just practice" pile. I decided to look for other lighthouses and found the Pigeon Point Station and the Curtis House Lighthouse in Maine. Once I started these, I grew more interested in the simple shapes of the buildings, took my expectations down a notch, and began to fill a sketchbook with lighthouses.

This is the painting that started my lighthouse exploration. I like the tower, but the rest???

Virginia Woolf is not the only writer to include lighthouses as a major element in her novel. Try these:

The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr

The Lighthouse, P.D. James (an Adam Dalgleish mystery)

The Lighthouse, Allison Moore

The Bad Luck Lighthouse, Nicki Thornton

To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

For more information about lighthouses:

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/san-francisco-bay-east-brother-lighthouse-no-power-16089720.php 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-east-brother-light-station?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf%20share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR0n-AgRbs_yA9My80fsvOCO88nknzfXH3GQ4VWdv2Lkc9ARz_h0ZJ3yv9Q

https://www.nps.gov/maritime/nhlpa/handbook/HistoricLighthousePreservationHandbook_04_Part2.pdf