As noted in an earlier FreightWaves Classics article, The 1st United States Congress met from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, during the first two years of George Washington’s presidency. On August 7, 1789, that very first session of Congress approved an Act establishing and supporting lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers. Those first Members of Congress understood how important navigational aids and infrastructure were to the economy of the new nation. Trade with other nations was...
On Saturday, November 6, those near the northwestern Pennsylvania city of Erie noted the 103rd anniversary of a lighthouse on Lake Erie.
The lighthouse began to operate on November 6, 1818 when lighthouse keeper John Bone lit the oil wick in the new structure for the first time. Bone was the Presque Isle Light keeper for 14 years. He, his wife and their four daughters and two sons lived in a one-story, three-room house built near the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was constructed on a bluff that...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-lighthouse-on-lake-erie-began-operations
A lighthouse on what is now named Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor began to operate on this day in 1716. The lighthouse was called the Boston Light.
An earlier FreightWaves Classics article outlined the history of lighthouses in the United States. As noted in that article, ships today have navigational and communications aids that were almost unthinkable even 50 years ago, much less in the 1700s. Back then (and ever since) lighthouses signaled mariners as they approached...