Lighthouses Short & Tall
Introduction
East Coast
Great Lakes
Gulf Coast
West Coast
Reader's Guide Introduction

List of lighthouses

To find each of the lighthouses featured in Lighthouses Short and Tall, click on the appropriate coast link on the navigation bar at the left. (West Coast includes Alaska and Hawaii.)

Page 1. Introduction

Using the scale that you can cut from the back cover, you can determine the approximate height of each lighthouse tower in this book. There are two ways of measuring lighthouse towers: You will be measuring total height from the base of the lighthouse to the center of the lantern where the light is situated. This is different from the focal plane of the light, which is the height of the lamp above sea level. If the lighthouse is sitting on high land, the focal plane measure will be from the water level to the light in the tower. You do not have enough information to measure focal plane accurately.

In all but one case, Old Point Loma, the towers represented here were the last tower built at that particular station. Many of the lighthouses included here are not the first tower that was built at that location. If there has been an earlier tower, the current tower is indicated in the heading by the word "tower." These towers were selected by the U.S. Coast Guard for this series because they represented a variety of construction types and geographic regions. Since these drawings were created, two lighthouses no longer exist–Sabine Pass and New Canal Lighthouses.

Useful Links:
Many lighthouses have their own websites created by their owners, managers, or friends groups with information about their history, access, and preservation. Where available we have included these links on the individual lighthouse page. Many lighthouses do not have groups devoted to their preservation. In those cases, you may find information on these general websites that may interest you:

Lighthouse Friends has a page with history on individual lighthouses and appears to be based on good research (includes sources)

National Park Service’s Lighthouse Heritage Site includes an inventory of lighthouses around the U.S. and a few features on lighthouse history

U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office - includes a section devoted to lighthouses and an extensive bibliography

U.S. Lighthouse Society (contains Keepers’ Log articles on lighthouses and database based on some National Archives records) 

Other miscellaneous websites:

"Built in America" HABS/HAER has documentation of many lighthouses (also search on "light station) Architectural drawings and / or photographs for the following lighthouses are included in this collection: Cape Hatteras, Grosse Point, North Point, Pensacola, Point Loma, Point Wilson, Portland Head, Presque Isle, Rock of Ages, Sand Island, Sandy Hook, Ship Shoal, and Split Rock

Finding aid for lighthouse records in the National Archives created by Candace Clifford

Lighthouse Postcards at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

This Reader's Guide is intended to be used with Lighthouses Short and Tall, a book for readers 11 and up written by Mary Louise and Candace Clifford.  It is available from the publisher, Cypress Communications, by using their book order form.

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