Haunted Lighthouses Connecticut
Haunted Lighthouses connecticut
 |
No items matching your keywords were found.
The silent sentinels of the waterways stand guarding the shores and protecting all who sail her seas from harm. Elegant and voiceless, the lighthouses throughout New England invoke charm and solitude. Travelers are entranced with the beauty that speaks to them, and want to know more about these lighthouses.
Originally lighthouses were not used to help the ships sail around the reefs, islands and shoals but rather torches and bonfires were lit along the shoreline or on high ground. The first and oldest lighthouse in America was built prior to the Revolutionary War in 1716. The Boston Harbor Light in Boston Harbor on Brewster Island was the 71st lighthouse built in the entire world. Britain occupied the Harbor during the Revolution. In 1776 they decided to blow up the lighthouse and it was rebuilt in 1783. Boston Harbor cruises can take you over to the island to visit where park rangers and volunteers will endow you with the history of the lighthouse. History continues on through New England with lighthouses up and down the coastline.
Maine boasts over sixty on her coast that include the Portland Head Light where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote some of his works and West Quoddy where, despite her name, is the eastern most point in the U.S. and captures the first sun's rays daily.
Lauded one of New England's treasures, Cape Neddick Light (Nubble Lighthouse) is surrounded by the sea on Nubble Island. You cannot actually go to this lighthouse; the 40-foot tower needs to be viewed from afar.
Connecticut will offer you over twenty lighthouses where you can visit nearly every one. Some have gone the wayside over time, but many charming attractions still await you on shore. One of the last masonry sentinels to be built was the Penfield Reef Light, sitting atop a cylindrical granite pier in Bridgeport Harbor for two centuries. It is said that Penfield is haunted by the ghost of keeper Frederick Jordan who drowned at sea while trying to make his way to shore for Christmas with his family when his boat capsized. He still stands guard over all who enter Bridgeport's waters.
Another haunt is the New London Ledge Light in New London, Connecticut. The regal construction stands guard at the opening of the harbor in French Second Empire style, with the locals wanting it to fit in with their own mansions along the shore. Ernie, who may have been John Randolph, was a keeper who found his wife cheating on him and jumped to his death on the rocks below the lighthouse and who still aids those in need in the harbor.
More sentinels of the sea are found in New Hampshire (4), Rhode Island (24) and Vermont (5). Their hushed silence beckons to the wayfarer as they journey the land, crying out in their stillness the history and romance that is brought to us by their majestic structures. While life among these treasures can be romanticized, some keepers only felt the loneliness and boredom of their lives. Others were saddened by those who would not know the tranquility and peacefulness that this sort of life can bring. We can only watch, dream and imagine as we visit the lighthouses of the New England coast. Hopefully, if we are lucky, we can take home a piece of their heart to make them our own.
Read more about New England Lighthouses at http://www.new-england-weekender.com/lighthouses.html
