As his ship rounded the high point off Point Loma, San Diego, in 1859, Richard Henry Dana wrote, "We were greeted by the cheering presence of a light-house." In reality, beams from San Diego's first lighthouse were repeatedly lost in cloud and fog, and all too soon came agitation for a more effective light at a lower elevation. By 1891, two new lighthouses were constructed to achieve what one could not--a major light on the low tip of Point Loma and a secondary light at Ballast Point. Although abandonment of the first lighthouse structure was nearly catastrophic, it still survives today to charm millions of visitors. Now, and long overdue, are new glimpses of the famous and lesser-known lighthouses of San Diego thanks to the memories and photographs belonging to families of the men who kept the lights burning.

Once beckoning to ocean-weary sailors, the lighthouses of the Pacific Coast still stand as beacons to adventurous travelers. Let this beautifully illustrated book conduct you to these classic lighthouses and treat you the fascinating stories behind these picturesque structures and the keepers who served in them. Along with the history of the lighthouses’ development and service, the book also delves into their technological evolution, with special attention to the architecture, the actual lights and lenses, and today’s movement to preserve and restore them. A breathtaking and edifying tour page by page, the book is also an ideal, informative guide for those who wish to venture into the living history of these coastal lighthouses.

A guide to more than forty lighthouse stations along the California coast.

This lavishly illustrated volume celebrates America's treasured coastal beacons and explores the people, places and coasts they radiate from. Photos.

Lighthouses were built on the Hudson River in New York between 1826 to 1921 to help guide freight and passenger traffic. One of the most famous was the iconic Statue of Liberty. This fascinating history with photos will bring the time of traffic along the river alive. Set against the backdrop of purple mountains, lush hillsides, and tidal wetlands, the lighthouses of the Hudson River were built between 1826 and 1921 to improve navigational safety on a river teeming with freight and passenger traffic. Unlike the towering beacons of the seacoasts, these river lighthouses were architecturally diverse, ranging from short conical towers to elaborate Victorian houses. Operated by men and women who at times risked and lost their lives in service of safe navigation, these beacons have overseen more than a century of extraordinary technological and social change. Of the dozens of historic lighthouses and beacons that once dotted the Hudson River, just eight remain, including the iconic Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor's great monument to freedom and immigration, which served as an official lighthouse between 1886 and 1902. Hudson River Lighthouses invites readers to explore these unique icons and their fascinating stories.

Join fine-art photographer David Skernick as he explores the rambling back roads of Northern California. This timeless tribute to the natural landscape captures the sublime beauty of settings such as Shasta Trinity National Forest, Napa Valley vineyards, Redwoods National Park, Route 1 and the Pacific Coast, and Yosemite. Skernick, who leads photography workshops nationwide, lets us in on his strategies with an appendix listing exposure, equipment, and panorama statistics for each image--enough to satisfy even the most technology-minded photographer.

Photographs of one hundred lighthouses have been selected for their beauty, clarity of architectural depiction, geographic distribution, and representation of types. Twenty American states are represented: Michigan, 15; Wisconsin, 9; California, 8; Florida, 7; Oregon, North Carolina, and Maine, 5 each; Minnesota, 4; New York, 3; Massachusetts and Ohio, 2 each; and Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alaska, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Rhode Island, 1 each. These group by coast into 33 Great Lakes, 25 Atlantic, and 15 Pacific U.S. lighthouses. Half the U.S. lighthouses shown are conical; a fifth are square; a tenth are octagonal; a tenth are cylindrical; and one example each is hexagonal and nonagonal. Nine extra-U.S. lighthouses are also included for comparison's sake. Julie Stetzko Taff provides illuminating captions.