Photo of the Day: Pemaquid Point Light, Maine

pemaquid1, originally uploaded by nelights.

I never get tired of clambering round on the rocks at Pemaquid Point looking for good photographic views. I'd say it's one of the top 5 lighthouses in New England, photogenically speaking.

Wood Island Lighthouse Restoration Begins

I just received the following from the Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse, a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Wood Island Lighthouse is located off Biddeford Pool on the southern Maine coast.

Dear Friends of Wood Island Light Members,

As many of you know, work on the beautiful tower has begun. We have contracted with Stone Age Masonry to strip, repair and repaint both the inside and outside of the tower. Weather permitting, the tower will be completed this fall.

You will be able to watch progress via our webcams, two on island and one overlooking Wood Island Harbor from the mainland. This is our first attempt at running the webcam system ourselves, in the past it was in the hands of GOMOOS (Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System). To view the webcams, go to the Wood Island Light website www.woodislandlighthouse.org and click on the webcam link at the top of the page, this will get you to the links for all three cameras. The webcams are sensitive to the numer of viewers online at the same time. If there are too many viewers, you may have some difficulty, if this happens, we suggest you try back later.

Thank you for your continued support as members.

Poll results

I ran a poll over the past week or so asking, "In the next year, which of the following are you most likely to do?" Here are the results: Visit one or more lighthouses within a couple of hours of home - 72%

Visit one or more lighthouses more than a couple of hours away - 81% Take a lighthouse cruise - 72% Take a lighthouse bus or van tour - 18% Read a book about lighthouses - 72% Read about lighthouses online - 81% Volunteer for a lighthouse organization - 27% These results aren't very surprising, but I am disappointed that only 27% said they'd volunteer. Granted, only 11 people responded, and that's not a very representative sampling. Still, I'd be more optimistic about the future of lighthouses if more people realized that preservation takes time and effort. I should have also included "Donate money to a lighthouse organization" as one of the options. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who professes to love lighthouses needs to do something for their preservation, whether it's a donation of time or money. It doesn't have to be a huge amount of money -- every dollar counts.