During the past few years, much national attention has been focused on one of the most neglected historical buildings of our landscape, the lighthouses. These life-saving structures dotted our eastern landscape along the ocean, and more were found on the nation’s great lakes, and the western oceansides.

Many of the old lighthouses began to fall into disrepair and their powerful glass lenses were replaced by automated lights. In early days each lighthouse was tended by a “keeper,” sometimes by a man alone or by a family who took care of these beacons. Congress created a lighthouse service in one of its earliest actions. This group functioned until 1939, when the US Coast Guard was given the responsibility of operating all of these historical buildings.

Many old lighthouses have been sold to historical societies. Some were given to the national park service. Less than half of the 1,600 lighthouses in the country still are in existence today. Some are still important parts of the navigational routes in our country. Many are being restored by historical groups and there are a few that were converted to bed and breakfast units. Tours are popular to some of these towers of the past.

The whole world watched on television, in the media, and by actual trips, when the famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved away from the coastal water, to a safe spot inland. A special road was built in 1999 for the project. Its black and white “barber-pole” design is recognized by Americans all over.

Another famous lighthouse is the Portland Light in Maine. Its cluster of buildings around the lighthouse, with their red roofs on white structures, are said to be the most photographed beacon in the country.

In Chesapeake Bay the Sharp’s Island Lighthouse is about to be saved by public interest since it was learned demolition was to be considered. The structure was knocked sideways by an ice floe in 1976 and is still functioning at a dangerous tilt. The Coast Guard estimates it would cost about $55,000 to save it.

On Lake Superior, the Outer Island Lighthouse is threatened by its position on the edge of a cliff and will need to be rescued before too long.

There is no way to estimate how many thousand lives have been saved by the flashing lights on the shores of our waterways. Most of them were constructed when it was found they were the sites of many shipwrecks.

There are many sources of information about these historical sentinels. I have a few books that tell the stories of the men, women, and children who tended the early lighthouses. Tours open to the public can be found by contacting The American Lighthouse Foundation, PO Box 889, Wells, ME 04090, or the National Park Service.

Summer seems to be winding down as the weatherman tells us of cooler days and nights this weekend. Many people have commented that we deserve it.

Last week the lines quoted are from Willa Cather in Song of the Lark.

Who said “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail”?