A celebration of the great American lighthouses, their keepers, their histories, and their ongoing stories For more than two centuries, lighthouses have helped sailors find their way through treacherous waters, guiding them home or taking them safely through passages on their way to adventure. These historic towers and houses form a sparkling chain of lights along our coasts, a reminder of the past echoing with adventure and mystery, a lure for travelers looking for a glimpse into a romantic past. Completely revised and updated, American Lighthouses offers more than just a tour of 450 beautiful and historic navigational beacons dotting the coasts and lakes of the United States. This fully illustrated, one-of-a-kind handbook details their history and architecture and provides full information on visiting or viewing them. Included are many endangered lights, threatened by erosion or lack of funding, as well as “ghost lights,” which are no longer standing.

A history of the lighthouse which examines its technical development in the United States

Discusses the history of lighthouses throughout the United States, the impact of technology on their development, and examples from Maine, California, Washington, Florida, and many other states.

Lighthouses are increasingly endangered by modernization and abandonment. Simple steel skeletons are replacing the picturesque, conical towers, squat screwpiles and Cape Cod styles so much a part of America's maritime history. This traveler's guide to more than 300 of the nation's most significant lighthouses and lightships includes an introductory look at the evolution of lighthouse technology and how these obsolete but beloved structures can be rescued.

Harrison explores approximately 180 lighthouses that have been destroyed or torn down along the American coast. 125 photos.

A spectacular collection of America’s most iconic and stunning lighthouses. Through gorgeous photography, this book celebrates these unique and magnificent beacons and their history. The construction of lighthouses began as this new nation’s first public-works project in 1789 and established the United States as a maritime world power by making ports safe for navigation. These structures—many still active and serving their original purpose even in the era of global positioning systems—are living museums, yet they often prove difficult to access for visitors due to their necessary remoteness. From Maine’s West Quoddy Head on the easternmost headlands to the iconic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and the West Coast lighthouses from New Point Loma to New Dungeness and Michigan’s Grand Haven Pier Lighthouse, the images here will delight both the armchair traveler and those who have taken the back roads or trekked across sandy beaches to visit these special and often artful buildings. This is a great gift for lovers of lighthouses, boaters, and those who live or dream of living on the seashore.