• Sandy Hook Lighthouse was financed by a lottery.
• Boston Lighthouse was financed by a toll on shipping.
• Portland Head Lighthouse's establishment was supervised by Alexander Hamilton.
• St. Marks Lighthouse stood on land eroded by the sea.
• Matagorga Island Lighthouse was built of portable iron plates.
• Old Point Loma Lighthouse stood on a cliff in the clouds and had to be replaced by a lighthouse located at a lower elevation.
• Sabine Pass Lighthouse was swept away by a hurricane.
• Ship Shoal Light’s keepers were sickened by lead in the cistern.
• Southwest Reef Lighthouse was heightened by extensions in its screwpiles.
• Pensacola Lighthouse was damaged by a hurricane.
• Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse needed four keepers who rotated shifts.
• Big Sable Light’s keeper wanted to transfer to be near a school.
• Cape Hatteras Lighthouse's black-and-white spirals served as a daymark during daylight hours.
• Presque Isle Light’s keepers received a pay raise for tending a fog whistle.
• Duxbury Light’s keeper wanted his wife appointed assistant keeper.
• Southwest Pass Lighthouse was destroyed by fire.
• Sand Island Lighthouse was rebuilt after Civil War damage.
• Yaquina Head Lighthouse was built from materials brought by boat.
• Spectacle Reef Lighthouse marked the most dangerous shoal in Lake Huron.
• Point Fermin's Light showed alternating red and white flashes.
• Grosse Point Lighthouse was located in an upscale residential neighborhood.
• Thomas Point Shoal Light’s keeper wanted his wife with him.
• Tillamook Rock Light’s building materials were floated ashore.
• Stannard Rock Light’s keeper tied his lamps down in a gale.
• Robbins Reef Light’s keeper, evacuated by sickness, left his wife in charge.
• Fourteen Foot Bank Lighthouse was erected above a cylinder sunk in the sand.
• North Point Light’s keeper reported that the revolving mechanism that turned the light malfunctioned.
• Point Sur Lighthouse, with no school nearby, had a teacher in residence.
• New Canal Lighthouse was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
• Old Mackinac Point Light’s keeper listed his many duties.
• St. George Reef Lighthouse was the most expensive lighthouse ever built.
• Heceta Head Lighthouse was located on an empty stretch of Oregon coast.
• Cape Charles Lighthouse was a cast-iron skeletal structure that was assembled and reassembled before erected on site.
• Toledo Harbor Light’s assistant keeper deserted, leaving the keeper alone.
• St. Martin Island Lighthouse suffered vandalism while closed during the winter.
• Sabine Bank Lighthouse was erected from a pier surrounding its sunken caisson.
• The concrete tower at Point Arena replaced an earlier one destroyed by the 1906 earthquake.
• Rock of Ages Lighthouse hosted 127 shipwrecked steamer passengers.
• Makapu’u Point Lighthouse needed a team and wagon to fetch supplies.
• New London Ledge Lighthouse was sturdily built of reinforced concrete.
• Split Rock Lighthouse's building materials were haul up a cliff with a derrick.
• Los Angeles Harbor Light’s assistant keeper assaulted his head keeper.
• Point Wilson Light’s keeper was proud of his vegetable garden.
• Boca Grande Rear Range Lighthouse was moved from Delaware.
• Five Finger Islands Lighthouse replaced an earlier tower, burned in 1933.

Read about these 45 lighthouses standing on all the coasts of the United States and the Great Lakes. Primary sources detail the vignettes above.

Alphabetical Listing of Lighthouses Featured