“If you open your eyes very wide and look around you carefully, you will always see a lighthouse which will lead you to the right path! Just watch around you carefully!”
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St. Simons Island Lighthouse and Museum, GA. The St. Simons Lighthouse and Keeper’s Dwelling were built in 1868-1872, replacing an earlier light station destroyed during the American Civil War. The tapering brick tower still serves as an Active Aid to Navigation and houses the original third-order Fresnel lens. Designed and manufactured in France, the lens casts its beam 23 miles out to sea. The Dwelling was home to lighthouse keepers and their families until the light was automated in the mid-1950s. In 1975, the Dwelling became a museum of coastal history, operated by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. Coastal Georgia History
When viewing this lighthouse and others, I sometimes think of the ships and sailors these warning beacons have saved through the years, and when letting my mind wander, I question what “lighthouses” do some of us as individuals use to guide us safely through our lives. Are there faiths or beliefs, teachings and education, or perhaps we make our charts as we learn from experiences of “running aground?” I know I have probably relied upon all of the above, and being more than a little hard-headed, I have abundant experience with the last method.
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St. Simons Island Lighthouse and Museum, GA, as seen from the waterfront.
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St. Simons Island Lighthouse and Museum, GA. The details of the painted brick construction are much more evident from this closer viewpoint.
This lighthouse looks quite like one about an hour from me on Lake Huron (even the surrounding setting). It is at a Coast Guard Station there. They are a popular attraction on the Great Lakes, and we have a lot of shipwrecks. So go figure in their success of guiding the way. :-) If the seas are stormy, there is only so much a guiding light can do. Which now that I typed that – is a whole other area of introspection I guess.
I guess many lighthouses built during the same period probably look very similar. We’ll not follow that lead; too much introspection can lead us down a dark path. Haha! Take care, Mark, and try and stay warm!
I think you’re talking about the school of hard knocks. In all honesty I think I’m still enrolled. 😂 Love lighthouses! At one time I thought it would be a good project to photograph as many as I could. However, being landlocked as I am it would require lots of travel that I was not able to do. I have a few images in my archives from some travel. I wonder how many there are?
Yes, like in “Groundhog Day,” I seem to keep repeating the grades in that school of hard knocks. I did find on Wikipedia: “The United States has had approximately a thousand lights as well as light towers, range lights, and pier head lights. Michigan has the most lights of any state with over 150 past and present lights.” Take care, Monte!