Hundreds of American women have kept the lamps burning in lighthouses since Hannah Thomas tended Gurnet Point Light in Plymouth, Massachusetts, while her husband was away fighting in the War for Independence. Women Who Kept the Lights details the careers of 32 intrepid women who were official keepers of light stations on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coasts, on Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes, staying at their posts for periods ranging from a few years to half a century. Most of these women served in the nineteenth century, when the keeper lit a number of lamps in the tower at dusk, replenished their fuel or replaced them at midnight, and every morning polished the lamps and lanterns to keep their lights shining brightly. Several of these stalwart women were commended for their courage in remaining at their posts through severe storms and hurricanes. A few went to the rescue of seamen when ships capsized or were wrecked. Their varied stories paint a multifaceted picture of a unique profession in our maritime history.

Past and Present Collide Beyond Death's Door Solitude at last! Museum curator Chloe Ellefson leaps at the opportunity to be a consultant for the historic lighthouse restoration project on Rock Island, a state park in Wisconsin's scenic Door County. Hoping to leave her personal and professional problems at home, Chloe's tranquility is suddenly spoiled when a dead woman washes ashore. Determined to find answers behind the mystery, Chloe dives into research about the island's history and discovers the amazing, resilient women who once lived there. But will the link between the past and present turn out to be a beacon of hope or a portent of doom? Praise: Winner of the Lovey Award for Best Traditional/Amateur Sleuth Mystery "Chloe's third combines a good mystery with some interesting historical information on a niche subject."—Kirkus Reviews "Framed by the history of lighthouses and their keepers and the story of fishery disputes through time, the multiple plots move easily across the intertwined past and present."—Booklist "A haunted island makes for fun escape reading. Ernst's third amateur sleuth cozy is just the ticket for lighthouse fans and genealogy buffs. Deftly flipping back and forth in time in alternating chapters, the author builds up two mystery cases and cleverly weaves them back together."—Library Journal "While the mystery elements of this books are very good, what really elevates it are the historical tidbits of the real-life Pottawatomie Lighthouse and the surrounding fishing village."—Mystery Scene "Kathleen Ernst wraps history with mystery in a fresh and compelling read."—Jane Kirkpatrick, New York Times bestselling author

When a mysterious pestilence hits the Hardbank coast and bodies start piling up, Shamus Washburn suspects witchcraft and he knows who to blame. He's hated Naxos ever since the affable lighthouse keeper arrived before the Civil War to tend the Hardbank Light. Feeding on fear, Shamus enlists a ragtag group of followers in his plan to kill Naxos and anyone else who tries to interfere. But the Hardbank Light is no ordinary lighthouse and Naxos is no ordinary lighthouse keeper - he is a Light Keeper, connected with the Source and endowed with powers and knowledge of an unseen world of Spirit. When he and Shamus collide they set in motion events the likes of which Hardbankers never could have imagined, giving those blinded by fear and vengeance one last chance to avoid disaster and move toward the Light. As a cast of unlikely characters arrive on the coast - a shipwrecked Yankee captain with a score to settle, an ex-slave who died in a storm but whose spirit continues its journey, a mystical root healer searching for the one things she knows can cure the pestilence before it's too late - the veil between the seen and unseen worlds is lifted and the last of the Light Keepers prepares to meet his destiny.

A BC classic hailed by the Vancouver Sun as A moving, very human story.

On a rocky island outpost off the coast of Maine, a young girl once kept the lighthouse lamps burning for days while her father was held on the mainland by a violent storm. This heroic incident forms the basis of Arielle North Olson’s dramatic story about young Miranda and her family. They have recently moved to the lighthouse—and the reader becomes acclimated along with Miranda to the harsh and demanding way of life she finds there. Illustrated in sweeping watercolors of blue and gray by Elaine Wentworth, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter will stir the hearts of readers as they watch Miranda struggle triumphantly against storm and rock and sea.

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.

A TERRIFYING MYSTERY OF THE SEA... In December 1900, three lighthouse keepers vanished without trace from the remote Scottish island of Eilean Mor. An emergency relief crew was sent to man the lighthouse. At the end of their month-long duty, they resigned from their posts and never spoke of what they had experienced on the island. The mystery of Eilean Mor has never been solved. Until now. In the present, a group of environmental researchers arrives on the island to observe the wildlife. While exploring the lighthouse, now automated and deserted, one of the team discovers a manuscript written by one of the relief keepers, a man named Alec Dalemore. As a sudden storm moves in, cutting off their escape, the researchers come to realise that Dalemore wrote the manuscript as a warning to all the lighthouse keepers who would come after him. A warning of something on Eilean Mor and in the surrounding ocean - something ancient and powerful, and strange beyond imagining...

“Transported me effortlessly…Haunting, harrowing and heartbreaking, this is a novel that will stay with you.” --Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push “A ghost story and fantastically gripping psychological investigation rolled into one. It is also a pitch-perfect piece of writing. . . . As with Shirley Jackson’s work or Sarah Waters’s masterpiece Affinity, in Stonex’s hands the unspoken, unexamined, unseen world we can call the supernatural, a world fed by repression and lies, becomes terrifyingly tangible.” --The Guardian (London) Inspired by a haunting true story, a gorgeous and atmospheric novel about the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from a remote tower miles from the Cornish coast--and about the wives who were left behind. What strange fate befell these doomed men? The heavy sea whispers their names. Black rocks roll beneath the surface, drowning ghosts. And out of the swell like a finger of light, the salt-scratched tower stands lonely and magnificent. It's New Year's Eve, 1972, when a boat pulls up to the Maiden Rock lighthouse with relief for the keepers. But no one greets them. When the entrance door, locked from the inside, is battered down, rescuers find an empty tower. A table is laid for a meal not eaten. The Principal Keeper's weather log describes a storm raging round the tower, but the skies have been clear. And the clocks have all stopped at 8:45. Two decades later, the keepers' wives are visited by a writer determined to find the truth about the men's disappearance. Moving between the women's stories and the men's last weeks together in the lighthouse, long-held secrets surface and truths twist into lies as we piece together what happened, why, and who to believe. In her riveting and suspenseful novel, Emma Stonex writes a story of isolation and obsession, of reality and illusion, and of what it takes to keep the light burning when all else is swallowed by dark.