Today is National Lighthouse Day (and yes, we did this last year, too). ;-)

If you are interested in lighthouses, and want to learn more about them, read Brilliant

Beacons: a History of the American Lighthouse, by Eric Jay Dolin. It's all here ... from how high to build a lighthouse (if the area was foggy, it'd be shorter). How to make the light (or foghorn) differ so ships could identify where they were by that. How to make the light brighter, and show further out at sea. Most keepers were married and their families lived with them wherever the lighthouse was situated. There were gardens (many helped provide food during wars) and livestock (and pets .... see (bk from earlier blog)), of course. Many keepers were women ... wives and daughters of the keeper, many held the job in their own right (it could be passed on to the wife, etc. if the keeper died). Sometimes the job would be passed down for several generations and these families would intermarry. These days there is less need for lighthouses so some have passed into private hands (often as a bed and breakfast) while others belong to the parks and are a tourist destination.

Eva Gates is the author of the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. I loved her description in the author's note that the interior of her lighthouse library is her version of the TARDIS from Doctor Who! Reading Up a Storm was a nice read after learning the history of lighthouses. I will admit that I didn't care for some of the characters, but I loved the cat!

There are several other books about lighthouses in the August 7th post from 2015,and a one on the post of December 15 2015. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog