Lighthouses of Boston Harbor

Posted on August 23, 2013August 23, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The Boston Harbor Cruise Whale Watch provided an opportunity to get a peak at 2+ of the lighthouses that protect Boston Harbor.

As I mentioned before there are 2 Boston Harbor Cruises that feature Lighthouses. Expert members of the American Lighthouse Foundation narrate the tours. They begin in Boston with passes by Long Island Head Light and Deer Island Light, and then a pass by Boston Light, the oldest lighthouse station in America. Heading north, the tour will pass by Graves Light, Hospital Point Light, Marblehead Light, Fort Pickering Light, Baker’s Island Light, Eastern Point Light, Ten Pound Island Light, Straitsmouth Island Light and more. The Northern Lights tour culminates with a view of Thacher Island, site of the only still operating twin lighthouses left in the country.

On our jaunt to look for whales we passed Boston Light with Graves Light behind it.

From certain angles the two lights line up front to back. Boston Light is located on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor. The current lighthouse is not the original structure.

During the American Revolution, the original lighthouse was held by British Forces and was attacked and burnt on two occasions by American forces. As the British forces withdrew in 1776, they blew up the tower and completely destroyed it. The lighthouse was eventually reconstructed in 1783, to the same 75-foot height as the original tower. In 1856 it was raised to its present height of 98 feet.

Graves Light is visible from Little Brewster Island and Boston Light. Graves light is located on The Graves, the outermost island of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, 9 miles offshore of downtown Boston.

Minot’s Ledge Light, officially Minots Ledge Light, is a lighthouse on Minots Ledge, one mile offshore of the towns of Cohasset and Scituate, to the southeast of Boston Harbor. It is a part of the Town of Scituate. The current lighthouse is the second on the site, the first having been washed away in a storm after only a few months of use.

The Nantucket Lightship which we passed moored in Boston Harbor is now a museum. The Lightship Nantucket or Nantucket Shoals was the name given to the lightvessel that marked the hazardous Nantucket Shoals south of Nantucket Island. Several ships have been commissioned and served at the Nantucket Shoals lightship station and have been called Nantucket. It was common for a lightship to be reassigned and then renamed for its new station.

At 8:00 a.m. on December 20, 1983 the Lightship 613 was relieved by a Large Navigational Buoy, making Lightship 613 the last Lightship on station in the US and on Nantucket Station. In December 1983 the Lightship 613 was sold to the New England Historic Seaport to become a museum ship in Boston.

So lets see. So far this summer I’ve seen Gurnet Light, Bug light (Duxbury Pier), Chatham Light, Boston Light, Graves Light, Minot Ledge Light and the Lightship Nantucket.

But there’s more. I’m not done yet! Tomorrow we go to Gloucester and Cape Ann.

Lighthouses along the Massachusetts Coast

Posted on August 22, 2013August 22, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I ran around trying to get pictures of lighthouses last summer. I had it in my head that the best lighthouses to photograph were in Maine. It was a fun trip and I got some beautiful shots but I overlooked the fact that there are 16 lighthouses just on Cape Cod. Cape Cod is a day trip for me and what about the rest of the Massachusetts Coast?

Boston Harbor Cruises offers 2 Lighthouse Cruises, a “northern” and a “southern”. Of course they are always on a Saturday night so I haven’t had the chance to take either. But this year I haven’t been looking for lighthouses. I’ve been chasing whales and seals and in process look what I’ve seen!

Gurnet Light

This has been my nemesis of a light since I heard of it. The Lighthouse is not open to the pubic and is accessible only by four- wheel- drive vehicles from Duxbury Beach. But even if you have a four- wheel -drive, which I do not, the road is not open to the public either.

If you want to hike it, which I have considered, it’s only about 5 miles each way. (With camera gear I’d rather not) The other option is from the water but I don’t have a boat so I was thrilled to pass right by it on Captain John’s Whale Watch trip.

Bug Light AKA Duxbury Pier Light

Seems like there are “Bug” Lights everywhere. They refer to little lighthouses, many are “spark plug” like in shape but most also have a real name like this one. Although known as “Bug Light” it’s real name is Duxbury Pier Light. It was built in 1871 on the north side of the main channel in Plymouth Harbor to mark the dangerous shoal off Saquish Head. It was the first so-called spark plug lighthouse in the US.

To really appreciate this spark plug of a light you need to read The Keeper of Bug Light http://www.buglight.org/Harry%20Salter%20Buglight.pdf It’s an easy read and very interesting.

`Let’s take a quick swing down to Chatham on Cape Cod. As I looked at the seal colony we cruised past Chatham Lighthouse with Lighthouse beach in front. (If I ever do a Cape Cod series you’ll see this one again.)

Today, the former keeper’s house is an active U.S. Coast Guard station, with on-duty personnel living quarters. Search and Rescue, maritime law enforcement, and Homeland Security missions are carried out here. Flotilla 11-01 of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary operates from this station.

This is located right on Main St so it’s easy to get to unlike some of the other’s mentioned here. Lets take a look at a couple more in my next post.

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on August 21, 2013August 21, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Love

They That Go Down to The Sea In Ships

Posted on August 20, 2013August 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

About a week ago I found myself with some time on my hands and a beautiful late summer day. Yes, I say late summer because the heat of July was gone and there was a freshness to the air.

As I thought about my options I got the urge to take a drive to Gloucester. I spent many happy hours scuba diving in Gloucester waters when I first moved to Massachusetts. As I moved farther and farther south my jaunts to the Cape Ann area became less and less. Just as I never went to Cape Cod when I lived north of Boston I now avoid the traffic that makes a northbound trip to Cape Ann so difficult.

But this day I felt adventurous so about 11 am I headed out to make the drive north. The fates must have agreed with my decision because there was no traffic and I made excellent time.

The closer I got to Gloucester the more nostalgic I became. I passed the exit to Folly Cove, one of my old dive spots and crossed the bridge over the Annisquam River, a tidal, salt-water estuary.

Eventually I found myself driving along the harbor following the long, narrow Stacy Esplanade. There ahead of me was the symbol of Gloucester, a memorial to all those thousands of Gloucester fisherman lost at sea in the first three centuries of Gloucester’s history.

The Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial is an eight foot tall bronze statue of a fisherman dressed in oilskins braced at the wheel of his ship.

The deck is sloping, his face rugged. The statue rests on a granite base. A small plaque on the north or street facing side of the base reads “MEMORIAL TO THE GLOUCESTER FISHERMAN, August 23,1923”

On the front or harbor-facing side is the inscription from the 107th Psalm which reads:

I have seen this statue many times over the years and in between I’ve seen many photos, yet it never fails to move me. It speaks to the hugeness of the ocean and the smallness of man who dares to brave its vastness as well as memorialize those that set sail never to return.

A little Food Post

Posted on August 19, 2013August 19, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I don’t usually post about food or recipes. There are so many really good cooks out there blogging about food but my friend Corporal Chef inspired me to actually post a favorite recipe now and then.

Also on my Facebook feed everyone is posting food recipes, mostly sweet and fattening !(my favorites) I can’t keep up but this one is worth a look.

Actually the one I’m about to share wasn’t a favorite until yesterday because I made it the first time yesterday but what impressed me most was how close to restaurant it tasted!

Everyone knows that Stir Fries are all the rage these days. I ran across this recipe and decided to give it a try.

The name on it was “Hot & Spicy Beef Stir Fry” but it isn’t that hot or spicy. It’s pretty mild. I used my electric Wok set to about 350 degrees. If you have never done a stir fry especial in a wok, it’s crucial that you prep. There’s no time to chop an onion between steps. Stir fries are one of the fastest ways to throw together a meal that I’ve found so be ready! 🙂

When I try a recipe for the first time I make it just like the recipe says. After I have tried it once I tweak it and make it mine. This one doesn’t require much tweaking. I added mushrooms but that was my only change .

So without more “babble” here it is.