Light Hearted podcast ep 83 – Tim Pettee and Alex Pettee, Greens Ledge Lighthouse, Connecticut

Greens Ledge is one of several treacherous formations near Norwalk Harbor in Connecticut. Congress appropriated $60,000 for the establishment of a light and fog signal at Greens Ledge in 1899, and the 52-foot lighthouse was finished in 1902. Greens Ledge is a cast-iron tower on a cylindrical cast-iron concrete-filled foundation, typical of offshore “sparkplug” lights built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Male keepers lived inside the lighthouse tower.

Greens Ledge Lighthouse in 2016. Sheffield Island Lighthouse can be seen in the background.
Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont.

Over the years, especially after the hurricane of September 1938, Greens Ledge Light developed a slight tilt. The lighthouse was automated in 1972 and the last Coast Guard keepers were reassigned. Under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, the lighthouse was auctioned in 2016.

Early 1900s postcard of Greens Ledge Lighthouse

Tim Pettee

The high bid was placed by a group of local residents that included Tim Pettee, Alex Pettee, Brendan McGee, and Shannon Holloway. They formed a 501 (c)3 organization, the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society. The Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society launched a fundraising campaignthat’s raised over $1.7 million through private donations for restoration. Upon completion of restoration, the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society plans to host educational tours, and plans have been developed for improved boat access.Tim Pettee is the president of the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society and his son, Alex, is the treasurer. 

Light Hearted podcast episode 81 – Rob Benchley, Sankaty Head Lighthouse (Nantucket, MA)

In 1850, a 53-foot brick lighthouse was built on a high bluff on the southeastern shore of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. With its second-order lens, fisherman knew the light at Sankaty Head as the "blazing star." The tower was moved back from the edge of the rapidly eroding bluff in 2007. 

Rob Benchley at Sankaty Head Lighthouse. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont. 

Sankaty Head Lighthouse is now owned by the Sconset Trust and its modern day keeper is Rob Benchley, an an accomplished photojournalist and author. 

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U.S. Lighthouse Society Podcast "Light Hearted" episode 72 – Sean Todd, Mount Desert Rock, Maine

More than 20 miles from the nearest port at Mount Desert Island in Maine, low-lying, wave-swept Mount Desert Rock is only about 17 feet above sea level at its highest point. Congress appropriated $5,000 for a lighthouse on Mount Desert Rock on March 2, 1829, to aid mariners heading to Frenchman and Blue Hill Bays from the south. The light went into operation on August 25, 1830. The structure weathered many storms before being replaced by a new 58-foot granite tower in 1847. The new tower was designed by the noted architect Alexander Parris.

Mount Desert Rock Light Station in 2002. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont.

 The station was automated in late 1977. The light station was then leased to Bar Harbor’s College of the Atlantic for use as a whale watching station. Under the Maine Lights Program, Mount Desert Rock Light Station, along with Great Duck Island Light Station, became the property of the College of the Atlantic in 1998.

The 2019 Marine Mammal class pictured at Mount Desert Rock. In this class, in addition to performing marine mammal research, students learn to run the station.    (College of the Atlantic)

Sean Todd (College of the Atlantic)

Sean Todd is the Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Sciences at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, and he also directs Allied Whale, the college’s marine mammal research program. He spent ten years in Newfoundland as part of the Whale Disentanglement team, a group that releases large entangled whales from fishing gear. In Maine he is trained as part of a first response team that performs a similar function. Sean also acts as a professional guide, including 14 seasons in the Antarctic and 11 seasons in the Canadian sub-Arctic and Arctic. He created, wrote, and stars in the award-winningLife in the World’s Oceans, a 30-part DVD series available from TheGreatCourses.com.



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U.S. Lighthouse podcast "Light Hearted" episode 71 – John Anderson, Great Duck Island, Maine

Great Duck Island is more than 200 acres in size and about nine miles south of the much larger Mount Desert Island. The Lighthouse Board recommended a light station on the island in 1885, and funds were appropriated in 1889. The light was established on December 31, 1890, with a 42-foot-tall cylindrical brick tower, three keepers’ dwellings, a fog signal building, and other outbuildings.

Early photo of Great Duck Island Lighthouse; fog signal building to the right.
National Archives image 26-LG-2-32F.

The light was automated in 1986 and the fourth-order Fresnel lens was replaced by a modern optic. The light remains an active aid to navigation, while most of the rest of the island was purchased by the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy in 1984.

A student bands a gull chick at Great Duck Island

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 under the Maine Lights Program. College of the Atlantic owns approximately 12 acres on Great Duck Island, consisting of the one remaining keeper’s house, two boathouses, and the lighthouse. Students and staff from the college now live in the former keeper’s dwelling much of the year. The College of the Atlantic’s ongoing research projects on the island include the monitoring of the large nesting gull population, as well as detailed study of black guillemots and the nocturnal Leach’s storm petrel.

John Anderson (COA)

John Anderson has been a professor at College of the Atlantic for more than 30 years. He teaches zoology, ecology, and animal behavior, and he’s a W.H. Drury Professor of Ecology and Natural History. He’s a New Zealander by nationality, British by upbringing, and has spent time in the UK, Europe, and the western U.S.

His field research centers around Great Duck Island. He says that he’s interested in the intersection between natural history and human history in relation to long-term ecological processes.

U.S. Lighthouse Society Podcast "Light Hearted" episode 70 - July 6, 2020

Pomham Rocks is a tiny island in the Providence River, about 800 feet from the east shore of the Riverside section of East Providence, Rhode Island. With increased shipping traffic heading toward Providence in the 1800s, Pomham Rocks was an obvious place to establish a navigational aid, and funds were appropriated in 1870. A wooden dwelling with a mansard roof was built on a granite foundation with a hexagonal lighthouse tower on the front center of the building. It was first lighted on December 1, 1871.

The lighthouse was discontinued in 1974 and was replaced by an automatic light on a skeleton tower. In 1980 the General Services Administration sold the property to the Mobil Oil Company, now Exxon Mobil, which has a large refinery and terminal near the lighthouse. Exxon Mobil eventually leased the historic structure at no cost to the American Lighthouse Foundation. A new chapter of the Foundation, the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse, was announced.

A restoration of the exterior of the building was completed in early 2006, and the navigational light was returned to the lighthouse. Then, in the spring of 2010, Exxon Mobil donated the lighthouse to the American Lighthouse Foundation. Recent work has included the construction of new docking facilities, restoration of the oil house, installation of new fencing, restoration of the lighthouse windows, and restoration of the interior.

Dennis Tardiff (left) was the last
USCG officer in charge at Pomham Rocks Light Station.
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Tardiff)

Dennis Tardiff arrived at Pomham Rocks in April 1971 as a 19-year-old Coast Guard fireman. He left Pomham at the age of 22 as a third class Petty Officer. As one of the last Coast Guard keepers at the station, Dennis lowered the flag on June 5, 1974, when the light was decommissioned. More than four decades after he left Pomham Rocks, Dennis became reacquainted with the lighthouse when he became involved with the restoration project in 2016. Dennis is now the chairperson of the Friends of Pomham Rocks Lighthouse. He was recognized for his efforts with a 2018 volunteerism award from the American Lighthouse Foundation. In this interview, Dennis talks about his days as a Coast Guard light keeper and about the preservation of this jewel among New England lighthouses.

Special Edition of "Light Hearted" - Maine lighthouse keeper Ernie DeRaps

Ernie DeRaps at Monhegan Lighthouse in 2007. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont.

This is a special edition of Light Hearted, featuring an extended interview with a former lighthouse keeper. Ernie DeRaps, a native Mainer, spent several years in the 1950s and ‘60s as a Coast Guard lighthouse keeper at four Maine lighthouses – Monhegan, Fort Point, Heron Neck, and Browns Head. After retirement he took up painting at the age of 80.  Ernie is now in his early 90s, and he has completed portraits of all 65 lighthouses on the Maine coast.

L to R: Jeremy D’Entremont, Ernie DeRaps, Bob Trapani, Jr., in February 2019

A book by Ernie DeRaps and his wife, Pauline, was published by Foghorn Publishing in 2006. Ernie’s half of the book was called Lighthouse Keeping. If you turn the book over and upside down, the other half of the book, by Pauline Fitzgerald DeRaps, was called Light Housekeeping.

Ernie and Pauline were married for 64 years and had six children. Pauline passed away in 2015 and is, of course, greatly missed, but Ernie is staying busy with his painting, as well as his children, nine grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. Ernie celebrates his 92nd birthday this month.

The book   Lighthouse Keeping / Light Housekeeping by Ernie and Pauline DeRaps is available from Foghorn Publishing. You can see some of Ernie’s paintings of Maine lighthouses at pigmentartstudio.com. You’ll see his Lighthouses of the Maine Coast series as well as some nature paintings and seascapes.

Ernie’s painting of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

Note from producer/host Jeremy D’Entremont:      I visited Ernie DeRaps at his home in Richmond, Maine, last February. With me was my friend Bob Trapani, Jr., executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Bob took part in the conversation with Ernie. The reason I waited until now to post this interview is that there was a problem with the sound. We recorded the conversation at Ernie’s kitchen table. As we spoke, Ernie kept tapping his fingers on the table. I was aware of it at the time, but I didn’t ask him to stop because I was afraid it might interrupt his thought process. I didn’t think the sound the tapping was making was very significant. It wasn’t until I listened to the recording later that I realized the tapping went right to the microphone stands and was recorded as a loud “boing” every time. For that reason, I shelved the interview for almost a year. But I recently listened to it again and I decided that it would be best to release it in spite of the problem. You can hear everything that’s said clearly, and Ernie’s great to listen to and I hated the thought of not using it because of a few little “boings.”

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