The bright lights of lighthouses have always helped guide ships to shore, but ships aren’t the only things they attract.
At the May 2023 Great Staten Island Lighthouse Hunt event, one thing was clear: there is a strong community of people who visit lighthouses and work to keep the history of these historic beacons alive.
“I made my living on the water, I teach people to go on the water, [and] I just love the water,” said Captain Joe Ahlstrom, the board president of the National Lighthouse Museum, which organized the event. “So lighthouses will be my legacy.”
The event is a day-long event where participants travel to each of the 10 on- and off-shore lighthouses on New York’s Staten Island. At each location, visitors collect a sticker and learn about that lighthouse. At the end of the day, at their last location, they receive a completion ribbon for traveling to all 10.
Ahlstrom used these lighthouses for many years while working on a training ship in Staten Island. Now that he’s retired, he volunteers for the National Lighthouse Museum to help preserve them. With guidance from Linda Dianto, the executive director of the museum, he helps keep the love of these guiding lights alive and promotes learning about the history of lighthouses, why we used them, and why we should preserve them.
At the event, some visitors traveled several hours to revel in the beauty of the lighthouses.
Julie Irons traveled to Staten Island from Maryland with her daughter and grandkids to attend the event. For Irons, it was one of several lighthouse trips she’s taken. Previously, she has traveled to the Maryland and New Jersey Lighthouse challenges. Those are annual, weekend-long events where visitors can see all the lighthouses in New Jersey and Maryland and learn the history of the structures and their keepers.
Irons has been visiting lighthouses for many years. After she received a framed picture of Maryland’s Thomas Point Lighthouse as a housewarming present for her first house, her love of lighthouses grew from there. She has visited over 100 lighthouses and volunteered to help out with the Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.
“Lighthouse passport books hold 60 stamps,” Irons said. “I’ve got one book completely filled.”
While Irons traveled with a small group, others traveled in pairs. Bob Gryszka and Roy Stepnowski, who have been best friends since kindergarten, regularly travel to see lighthouses. Bob drives, and Roy navigates.
Both said that their favorite lighthouse is the Twin Lights Lighthouse in New Jersey, which is near where they live. They said the technology behind that lighthouse is what makes it stand out. For example, it uses a Fresnel lens, which is a type of lens that is used to refract light farther. They also agreed it is unique because it is a twin light, which means it has two light towers connected.
There are more than 24,000 lighthouses around the world, and they each have rich histories of helping ships find land. It is up to people to preserve these guiding lights.
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