The Lighthouse Handbook New England
by Jeremy D’Entremont
Published by Cider Mill Press Book Publishers 2016
Pages 461 Price $19.95

All About Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth, Maine
by Jeremy D’Entremont
Published by Cider Mill Press Book Publishers 2018
Pages 150 Price $14.95

All About       Nubble Light, Cape Neddick Light Station, York, Maine
by Jeremy D’Entremont
Published by Cider Mill Press Book Publishers 2018
Pages 150 Price $14.95

Visiting lighthouses can be a great adventure. Lighthouses historically were designed to guide ships in all kinds of weather. “The Lighthouse Handbook: New England” is a wonderful guide for people on land or at sea to find individual lighthouses throughout the New England states. It includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Brunswick as well as Nova Scotia and includes 461 pages.

The format of this important guide book is outstanding with exciting color photos. Each lighthouse mentioned has its key characteristics listed in a box near its introduction inside each chapter. For example the following information can be found easily about each lighthouse: geographic location, nearest city, establishment date, height of tower, previous optic, flashing light time and fog signal, etc.

I think this is a must book for anyone traveling by water up or down the coast of New England! It is also a wonderful source of information for those traveling by car during the summer months who would like to visit specific lighthouse locations on land.

There is a wonderful glossary of terms in the back of the book which defines such terms as fresnel lens, range lights, and height of focal plane. There are a number of indexes in the back of the book that make research easy. A list of organizations that care and keep up lighthouses is provided. A general lighthouse index makes looking up specific lighthouses and topics easy. In addition an index with a two- page list for suggested reading on the topic of lighthouses is provided.

The author, Jeremy D’Entremont, is considered an important lighthouse authority. He has written many books such as: ”The Lighthouse Handbook:West Coast”, “The Lighthouse Handbook: Hudson River and New York Harbor,” “The Lighthouses of Massachusetts,” and “Great Shipwrecks of the Maine Coast.” He is the historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and has also written more than 300 magazine articles on lighthouses.

Two new wonderful books by D’Entremont with amazing historic depth in a small book format (covering 150 pages each)  include: “All About Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth”(2018), and “All About Nubble Light, Cape Neddick Light Station, York, Maine.(2018). Both books are artistically created with amazing historic details in depth and beautiful photographs.

The early lighthouses were largely paid for by dues based on the tonnage of vessels entering the ports. From 1716 to 1789 the lighthouses in the American colonies were built and maintained by the individual colonies or states.

It was noted in the book ”Portland Head Light,”  that it was completed in 1791, and was partially built by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the third oldest standing lighthouse tower in the United States. It was the first lighthouse which was not built by federal government to begin service under the management of the federal government. In 1789 the Lighthouse Act in Congress was passed and provided federal support for lighthouses.

The author mentions the history of Fort Williams Park, because Portland Head Light is a close neighbor. The Lighthouse stands at the end of Fort Williams Park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Cannons brought from Boston during the American Revolution in 1776 were placed on the grounds near the light house. Early drawings of the lighthouse and many photographs are interesting  to see.

Fort Williams began to be developed in 1872 but was named in 1899  after Brevet Major General Seth Williams, assistant adjutant general of the Union Army during the Civil War.
This book gives an interesting background about the lighthouse keepers and their families, at Portland Head Light and  explores the historic facts around the mysterious Goddard Mansion on the grounds of Fort Williams. The Goddard Mansion, once a hotel in 1853 was bought and  completed in 1858 as a home for John Goddard, a successful lumber businessman. It  was made of stone in an Italianate Victorian style. It was acquired by the army in 1898 for married enlisted men and their families.

The Goddard Mansion today looks like the remnants of the fictional Manderley Mansion seen in the classic film “Rebecca” directed by Alfred Hitchcock. At one time it was badly burned.This relic of another time, is now owned by the town of Cape Elizabeth and fenced in to provide public safety. Fort Williams is so beautiful that it has a mystical atmosphere. In reality it was used in World War I and II as an active base to defend the coast of Maine. It is now a public park.

The third book reviewed but the second new and small book on lighthouses by D’Entremont is titled “All About Nubble Light.” The author states, “The earliest call for a light house on Nubble was in 1808 but it eventually got built in 1879 and was created in cast iron.” Most lighthouses were made of stone and wood. A 32- step cast iron stairway anchored to the brick walls in the tower leads to a watch room where the keepers sometimes spent the night to make sure that the light did not go out in a storm. From 1900 to World War II most light houses used oil to fuel the light. By 1890 kerosene also known as mineral oil was the primary fuel.

The Nubble’s oil house, next to the lighthouse, was built in 1902. After converting to electricity, the oil houses often were painted red, and were used for other purposes such as storage. A generator was put into the Nubble Lighthouse to protect its electricity from going out in a storm. Lighthouses and fog signals have gone hand and hand for hundred’s of years. Bells made of heavy bronze were also used. The use of fog bells dates back to the 1700 in Europe but emerged in 1800 in America.

Today an automatic electric foghorn mounted on the lantern gallery of the lighthouse tower remains in use at the Nubble Lighthouse.

In summary, visiting lighthouses during the summer months here in Maine may be a wonderful and stimulating pursuit, not to mention a practical necessity for ships at sea. In my opinion the lighthouse handbooks by Jeremy D’Entremont published by the Cider Mill Press of Kennebunkport, Maine are the best books on the subject. They are artistically done, concise, have a ton of information, and include beautiful photographs. If you love lighthouses like I do, pick up one of these books today and start visiting the lighthouses of New England. I recommend these book highly for use by land or by sea!!

— Pat Davidson Reef is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston. She received her Masters Degree at the University of Southern Maine. She taught English and Art History at Catherine McAuley High for many years. She now teaches at the University of Southern Maine in Portland in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Classic Films. She recently wrote a children’s book,”Dahlov Ipcar Artist,” and has now completed another children’s book “Bernard Langlais Revisited.”