Light Hearted podcast for USLHS

14/09/2025

Light Hearted Lite #28 – Elaine Jones, Burnt Island, ME

This is an an edited version of a conversation that was first heard in episode 62 in May 2020. The guest is Elaine Jones and the subject is Burnt Island Light in Maine. A lighthouse was built in 1821 on five-acre Burnt Island at the west side of the entrance to Boothbay Harbor in Maine, which was a center for shipbuilding, gristmills, and fishing going back to the 1700s. In 1988, Burnt Island became one of the last Maine light stations to be automated and destaffed.

In 1998, as part of the Maine Lights Program, Burnt Island Light Station was transferred to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Elaine Jones was named the director of the new facility, and it was her vision to transform the island into an outstanding educational and recreational facility for Maine’s residents and its visitors. She retired in 2021 after 30 years with the Department of Marine Resources. In fact, her last day of work was the exact 200th anniversary of the first lighting of Burn Island Light on November 9, 1821.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-28-elaine-jones-burnt-island-me

31/08/2025

17/08/2025

Light Hearted Lite 26 – Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, CT

Greens Ledge Light, which was built in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1902, is a cast-iron lighthouse tower on a cylindrical cast-iron concrete-filled foundation. It’s typical of offshore lighthouses built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Male keepers lived inside the lighthouse tower. Under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, the lighthouse was auctioned in 2016. The high bid was placed by a group of local residents that included the Pettee family. They formed a 501 (c)3 organization, the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society.

Tim Pettee, who is president of the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, grew up in Westport, Connecticut, and has been a resident of Rowayton, Connecticut, since 2014. Tim’s son Alex Pettee is the treasurer of the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society. This is an edited version of an interview that was first heard in episode 83 in October 2020.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-26-greens-ledge-light-preservation-society-ct

03/08/2025

Light Hearted Lite #25 – Elanie Bruton, lightkeeper’s daughter at Sheringham Point, BC

This is an edited version of a conversation with a lighthouse keeper’s daughter in British Columbia, Canada, first heard in episode 104 of Light Hearted. Jim Bruton was born in Wales in 1926, but his family relocated to British Columbia in Canada when he was just one year old. He started working in the logging industry as a boy. In a light keeping career spanning several decades, he served at light stations around Vancouver Island: Lennard Island, Discovery Island, and Chrome Island.

The Brutons eventually had four children, three girls and a boy. The family moved to Sheringham Point, a mainland light station in Shirley on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, in 1968. They lived there for nearly two decades, until 1986, when Jim Bruton retired. The guest in this episode, Elanie Bruton, lived at the light stations with her family until she was 18.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-25-elanie-bruton-lightkeepers-daughter-sheringham-point-bc

Photo: Sheringham Point Lighthouse. BC. Photo by

27/07/2025

Light Hearted podcast episode 322 – Greg Goldstein talks about his grandfather, Keeper Frank Schubert of Coney Island, NY

Frank Schubert – a native of Staten Island – spent 43 years as a keeper and caretaker at Coney Island Light Station in New York. When he passed away in 2003, he was the last person who had served as a keeper under the old U. S. Lighthouse Service. He originally joined the Lighthouse Service as a seaman on the tender Tulip in 1937.

He moved in as keeper at Coney Island in 1960. Frank, along with his wife and three children, enjoyed giving tours to schoolchildren and scout troops, and having a wonderful time every day. Our conversation today is with Greg Goldstein, grandson of Frank Schubert. Greg’s wife Lisa also took part in the conversation.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-322-greg-goldstein-talks-about-his-grandfather-keeper-frank-schubert-coney

20/07/2025

Light Hearted Lite 24 – Ian Duff, Scottish lighthouse keeper

This is an edited version of an interview that first appeared in episode 79 in September 2020. Ian Duff worked as a keeper at 13 Scottish lighthouses between 1976 and 1992. He spent about five years at Skerryvore, a remote station off the west coast of Scotland. He also spent about five years at Duncansby Head Light Station at the most northeasterly point of the British mainland.

Ian remained involved with lighthouses after his retirement as a keeper. He became the president of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers, or the ALK, an organization that provides a forum for everyone interested in lighthouses, lightships, and maritime aids to navigation. When Ian passed away last year, a large collection of his photographic slides and artifacts were donated to the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-24-ian-duff-scottish-lighthouse-keeper

13/07/2025

Light Hearted podcast episode 321: Nancy Beye, David Smith, and Varoujan Karentz – Beavertail, Rhode Island

Beavertail Light Station is at the southern tip of Conanicut Island in the town of Jamestown, RI, was established in 1749. It was the third light station in the American colonies. The 45-foot square granite lighthouse that stands today was built in 1856. The Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association (BLMA) preserves the light station and manages a museum that occupies two former keepers’ houses and two other buildings.

Nancy Beye is the president of the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association. David Smith is a board member of the BLMA, and he has been involved with the development of many of the exhibits in the museum at Beavertail. Varoujan Karentz is on the board of the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association. His book Beavertail Light Station is the most comprehensive history available on this historic location.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-episode-321-nancy-beye-david-smith-and-varoujan-karentz-beavertail-ri

Photo: Beavertail Light Station, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont

06/07/2025

Light Hearted Lite 23 – Don Terras, Grosse Point, Illinois

Grosse Point Lighthouse, located at the southern end of Lake Michigan in Evanston, Illinois, was established in 1873 as the primary lighthouse marking the approach to Chicago. Since 1983, for an amazing 42 years, Don Terras has been chief administrator of the Lighthouse Park District, a unit of local government in Evanston. He is also the live-in manager of the Grosse Point Light Station museum, essentially serving as the modern-day keeper.

This is an edited version of a conversation with Don Terras that was recorded in the museum in the former keeper’s house at Grosse Point Light Station in November 2019. Also taking part in the conversation is Jeff Gales, executive director of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.

Listen here: https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-lite-23-don-terras-grosse-point-illinois

Photo: Grosse Point Light Station, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont

29/06/2025

Light Hearted podcast episode 320: Lorna Pierce and Gloria Coder: Remembering Seamond Ponsart Roberts, part 2 of 2

This is part two of a two-part interview with Lorna Pierce and Gloria Coder, the daughters of Seamond Ponsart Roberts (1940-2023). Seamond was the daughter of the longtime Massachusetts lighthouse keeper Octave Ponsart, and she was the author of the book "Everyday Heroes, The True Story of a Lighthouse Family." Seamond’s childhood was spent at Cuttyhunk Light and West Chop Light in Massachusetts.

Here is an excerpt from Seamond’s obituary: “The bad days were sure bad enough, but since there were so many good days (like 99.9 percent of the time) what the heck. She had a good life for sure — and I should know as I, Seamond Roberts, wrote all this myself. Goodbye to all my family and friends. Thank you for listening to me and for being so dear to me. I hope to see each of you in our next life’s further adventures.”

Photo: Seamond throwing a wreath into the water at Cuttyhunk Island in 2001, in memory of her parents.

Listen here:
https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-320-lorna-pierce-and-gloria-coder-remembering-seamond-ponsart-roberts-part-2

22/06/2025

Light Hearted podcast episode 319 – Lorna Pierce and Gloria Coder: Remembering Seamond Ponsart Roberts, part 1 of 2

The guests in this episode are Gloria Coder and Lorna Pierce. Gloria and Lorna are the daughters of the late Seamond Ponsart Roberts (1940-2023). Seamond was the daughter of a longtime lighthouse keeper in Massachusetts, and she was the author of the book “Everyday Heroes: The True Story of a Lighthouse Family.

Seamond’s father, Octave Ponsart, began his lighthouse keeping career at Great Point on Nantucket. He spent five years as the keeper at Dumpling Rock in southeastern Massachusetts, and he and his family barely survived the hurricane of 1938. He became the keeper of Cuttyhunk Light off Cape Cod in 1940. He then spent 11 years as keeper at West Chop Light on Martha’s Vineyard. Seamond spent just a few years as a child at Cuttyhunk, but she always considered it home because of her mother’s family’s roots there. This is part one of a two part interview.

Listen here:

https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-ep-319-lorna-pierce-and-gloria-coder-remembering-seamond-ponsart-roberts-part

Photo: Seamond Ponsart in front of the keeper’s house at Cuttyhunk Lighthouse, circa 1945.