Our Lighthouse Heritage – It’s Your Story!
When peering through the lens of lighthouse history, always do so with more than just your eyes. Be sure to see with your heart too. For such matter – silent and random as it may be, is not simply timeworn when considering at first glance its worth and place from occasions now distant.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
Indeed we are well-served to view history not as old, but rather as our esteemed inheritance. It is the solid bedrock upon which the present stands, shines and thrives. And our lighthouse heritage is not merely a gift. For this extraordinary endowment is part of the very fabric of our coast and culture that beckons those near and far in the prevailing epoch.
In Midcoast Maine – the Rockland waterfront to be precise, there is an abundant source that continues to stoke the flames of our lighthouse tradition. Within its partitions, light reigns in resplendent fashion. Here history speaks in uncommon ways and showers accolades upon those – men, women and children alike, who stood the faithful watch through the annals of storm, monotony and isolation.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
And blessed are we in the great State of Maine for a visionary fondly called “Mr. Lighthouse” by many. His neighborly ways – immersed in the very essence of Semper Paratus, and a keen admiration for shiny objects, once glowed on the cusp of changing times at the lights.
In his day, no artifact was unimportant – and certainly no Fresnel lens was to be discarded if he had a say about its fate. “Gems,” he’d often say about Augustin Fresnel’s contrivance. Today these gathered gems are a gleaming treasure-trove whose shine illuminates countless facets of our lighthouse past, present and future. It is your lighthouse story – it is mine.
