Under the supervision of the United States Coast Guard, there are today some 158 manned lighthouses in the nation. Another 60 are cared for by other Coast Guard units in the general area. There are hundreds of other lights of varied description that are operated automatically. And, as technology improves, more and more lighthouses are being operated without a full time crew. Indeed, many of the isolated lighthouses described in this booklet are scheduled for automation.

In the course of our history as a nation, and before that as British colonies, we have built hundreds of lighthouses, some of which still stand though now inactive, having been sold for private residential or other use. Many have been rebuilt and not a few have succumbed to the ravages of time. The history of our lighthouses thus parallels the history of our nation.

Since 1716, when the Province of Massachusetts built Boston Light, scarcely a year has passed that has not seen a new light structure erected somewhere along our sea coasts, on our navigable rivers, or along our lake shores. To tell the story of these lighthouses would be a major undertaking. These stories of some of them, however, have been selected chiefly for their historical interest. Others have been included because their unique locations or types of construction are of more than usual interest.

The lighthouse typifies maritime safety. As part of our early coastal defense system, they played a major role in important Coast Guard duties related to military readiness. Additionally, the light’s strategic locations along our coasts aided another early Coast Guard function, law enforcement, by making it possible for cutters to judge their distances from the coast and so prevent smuggling operations within the three-mile limit.

The stories of 56 lighthouses have been told here. The stories of hundreds of others, of equal interest, could have been included had space permitted.

The oldest lighthouse described is the Boston Light built in 1716. The newest in this booklet is Buzzards Bay Light which is located some five miles off the Massachusetts coast, replacing a lightship that had been there for many years.

The distance these lights are visible has been given in the geographical range. The theoretical visibility of a light in clear weather depends upon two factors, the height of the light above water, and its intensity. The height controls what is known as the geographic range, while the intensity controls what is known as the luminous range. As a rule, for the principal lights the luminous range is greater than the geographic, and the distance from which such lights are visible is limited by the earth’s curvature only. Under some atmospheric conditions the glare or loom of these lights, and occasionally the light itself, may be visible far beyond the computed geographic range. On the other hand, and unfortunately more frequently, these distances may be lessened by fog, rain, snow, haze, or smoke.