Light Hearted podcast for USLHS

15/06/2025

Light Hearted Lite #22 – John Anderson, Great Duck Island, Maine

A light station was established on Maine’s 220-acre Great Duck Island in 1890, with a 42-foot-tall brick tower and three keepers’ dwellings. In 1998 Great Duck Island Light Station, along with Mount Desert Rock Light Station, became the property of Bar Harbor’s College of the Atlantic. Students and staff from the college now live in the former keeper’s dwelling much of the year. The ongoing research projects largely focus on the island’s bird populations.

John Anderson has been a professor at College of the Atlantic for more than 30 years. His field research centers around Great Duck Island. John says that he is interested in the intersection between natural history and human history in relation to long-term ecological processes.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-22-john-anderson-great-duck-island-maine

08/06/2025

Light Hearted podcast episode 318: The storms of 2024 and Maine’s lighthouses: David Pomerantz, Ford Reiche, and Bob Trapani

Responding to a pair of damaging storms in January 2024 that impacted a a third of Maine’s light stations, the nonprofit American Lighthouse Foundation has formed a Storm and Mitigation Response Team that is dedicated to the development of a series of best practices that can help lighthouses become more resilient in the face of future storms.

Today’s conversation is with three members of the team. Bob Trapani Jr. is the executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Ford Reiche is the president of the Presumscot Foundation, which owns Halfway Rock Lighthouse in Maine’s Casco Bay. David Pomerantz has a background that includes climate resilience and emergency management.

Photo: Portland Head Light in one of the storms in January 2024. Photo by Dominic Trapani

01/06/2025

Light Hearted podcast episode 317 – Artist Richard Klein and Peck Ledge, CT

A lighthouse was proposed in 1896 to mark Peck (or Pecks) Ledge, at the east end of the Norwalk Islands in Connecticut. It began operation in 1906 and was the last staffed lighthouse to be built at a wave-swept site on Long Island Sound. Its life as a staffed light was relatively short, only 27 years. The lighthouse was sold via online auction in September 2015, and the owner is now Norwalk Art Space.

Today’s conversation is with artist, writer, and curator Richard Klein. Richard has utilized found objects in his sculptural work since the late 1990s. In early September 2024 he spent a week at Peck Ledge Lighthouse, a residency that was sponsored by the Norwalk Art Space. Richard is also the curator of a new show at Norwalk Art Space. The show is called “Sight and Sound: Artists Consider Long Island Sound.” It opens on June 12th and continues through August 28th.

Photo: Peck Ledge Lighthouse, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-317-artist-richard-klein-and-peck-ledge-ct

25/05/2025

Light Hearted Lite #21 – Sean Todd, Mount Desert Rock, Maine

Sean Todd serves on the marine science faculty at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, and he’s also the director of Allied Whale, the college’s marine mammal research program. Mount Desert Rock, more than 20 miles from the nearest port and home to a historic light station, serves as Allied Whale’s research station. The former keeper’s house has accommodations for 20 students.

Sean also acts as a professional guide, including many seasons in the Antarctic. He created, wrote and starred in the award-winning “Life in the World’s Oceans,” a 30-part DVD series available from TheGreatCourses.com.

Photo: Mount Desert Rock Light Station, Maine. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

Listen here: https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-21-sean-todd-mount-desert-rock-maine

18/05/2025

Light Hearted ep 316 – Rhode Island nautical photographer Matthew Cohen

Matthew Cohen is a nautical photographer with more than 20 years of experience. Matthew acquired his love of boating as a child and raced with the successful Roger Williams University Varsity Team. Following that, he became an accomplished sailing instructor for 15 years at the Sail Newport Sailing Center, and he’s logged over 30,000 ocean miles as a sailor.

Matthew's work has been printed in more than 30 maritime publications and has been showcased in over a dozen galleries, shows, and retail spaces. He’s now in the early stages of a new photography project related to lighthouses, which is described in this interview.

This episode is also available in a special video edition on the USLHS YouTube channel.

Photo: Sakonnet Light, RI. Photo by Matthew Cohen.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-ep-316-rhode-island-nautical-photographer-matthew-cohen

11/05/2025

Light Hearted Lite #20 – USLHS’s Lighthouse Passport Program

This edition of Light Hearted Lite features several edited interviews that were originally heard in two episodes back in the spring of 2020. The subject is the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s popular lighthouse passport program. The program provides enthusiasts the opportunity to help preserve lighthouses, and a great way for them to keep a pictorial history of their lighthouse adventures. Small donations are made by passport holders for the stamps.

The interviews are with Skip Sherwood, director of the passport program, and several hall of fame stamp collectors: John MacFarland, James Hill, Sharon Mills, Al King, and Scott Walbert.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-20-uslhss-lighthouse-passport-program

04/05/2025

20/04/2025

Light Hearted episode 314 – Joe Bains and Ray Jenness, Prudence Island, RI

Prudence Island, about seven miles long, is the third largest island in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. It was determined around 1850 that a lighthouse was needed to guide vessels passing between Sandy Point, at the island’s easternmost extremity, and Aquidneck Island, about a mile to the east. Instead of building a new lighthouse, a disused one at Goat Island in Newport was moved to Prudence Island. Originally built at Goat Island in 1842, the lighthouse still stands at Sandy Point and is the oldest free-standing lighthouse in the state.

The Prudence Conservancy, a nonprofit organization, was involved with the upkeep of the lighthouse and its grounds since the late 1980s. The Coast Guard granted a license to the group in 2001, and in 2024, the property was conveyed to the Prudence Conservancy under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. Interviewed in this episode are Prudence Island Historian Joe Bains, and Ray Jenness, who is the chairman of the Prudence Conservancy. The interview was recorded at the Prudence Island Historical Museum.

Photo: Prudence Island Lighthouse, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

13/04/2025

Light Hearted ep 313 – Thomas Point Shoal, MD, and “Drew’s Grand Adventure”; NHLPA conference recap

There are three segments in this episode. The first recaps a recent virtual conference that the USLHS held in late March. The conference celebrated the 25th anniversary of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.

Next is an abridged version of a conversation with John Potvin first heard in November 2019. John is the manager for the Chesapeake Chapter of USLHS of Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay, the only surviving cottage-style screwpile lighthouse in the country still in its original location. Following that is a chat with Natasha Nash Dixon. Natasha’s new children’s book, “Drew’s Grand Advenure,” is based on a true tale about the beloved mascot of Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. The book also includes the photography of Davd Sites, who is an acclaimed Maryland photographer.

Photo - Drew the Coyote at Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, photo by David Sites.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-ep-313-thomas-point-shoal-md-and-drews-grand-adventure-nhlpa-conference-recap