Lighthouses can be found on rocky cliffs or sandy shoals on land, on wave-swept reefs in the sea, and at entrances to harbors and bays. They serve to warn mariners of dangerous shallows and perilous rocky coasts, and they help guide vessels safely into and out of harbors.
On August 7, 1789, Congress approved the Lighthouse Act—the first public works program undertaken by the new federal government—which established and supported lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers. Members of Congress thought the bill was so important that they passed the measure even before they established pay for themselves!
August 7 Is recognized as National Lighthouse Day. Even with the advent of advanced navigation technology, many lighthouses still sparkle for seafarers.
As a seacoast state, New Jersey is known for its lighthouses. The Jersey coast boasts of some majestic lighthouses that have guarded mariners sailing the Atlantic Ocean and intercoastal waterways for over a century. The state’s beacons have been a vital component of New Jersey’s maritime heritage and draw thousands of visitors each year.
On August 5 at 7pm, we present “Lighting The Way: A History of New Jersey Lighthouses” where you will learn the history and interesting facts about some of the well known-and some lesser known-lighthouses that grace the NJ shoreline in the program.
Here are some fiction and nonfiction titles featuring lighthouses available with your Livingston Library card.
Fiction
Death by Beach Read by Eva Gates
Librarian Lucy’s new historic house comes with a lot of baggage and family secrets. Can she put them to rest or will a killer bring Lucy’s family to their downfall, in the 9th Lighthouse Library mystery. It’s spring in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Lucy and Connor have moved into their new home at last, a historic cottage on the Nags Head Beach. The house needs a lot of renovations, but they worked hard over the winter to get it ready. Lucy is now happily immersed in her work at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, planning her wedding, and decorating the house. That is, until a dead body disrupts their peaceful new abode.
The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
A novel set on a remote Australian island, where a childless couple live quietly running a lighthouse, until a boat carrying a baby washes ashore.
Every Single Secret by Christina Dodd
In an isolated lighthouse on the California coast, Rowan Winterbourne lives a solitary life with only her secrets for company. For she has a mission that drives her—to avenge herself against Gregory Torval, the powerful drug and arms dealer who murdered her mother and vowed to eliminate everyone in her family.
A Lighthouse Christmas by Jenny Hale
This Christmas, Mia Broadhurst returns to the snow-covered seaside village of Winsted Cape. It’s the magical place where Grandma Ruth ran the lighthouse on the edge of the coast, the place where Mia’s fondest childhood memories lie. Forced to sell it after her grandmother passes away, Mia can’t bear to part with the house she holds most dear. But with her life back in New York, and her mother and sister unable to afford the upkeep, she has no choice but to sell. When everything goes wrong, Mia starts to wonder if her grandmother is trying to tell her something. Could the truth save the lighthouse and show Mia where her heart truly belongs?
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor
1838: When Grace Darling and her father rescue shipwreck survivors in a storm, Grace becomes celebrated throughout England. But that fame means far less to her than her friendship to a visiting artist. A hundred years later, a half-finished portrait is discovered by Matilda Emerson, opening up a window to her family history and a bond that spans a century.
The Lightkeeper’s Daughters by Jean Pendziwol
Though her mind is still sharp, Elizabeth’s eyes have failed. No longer able to linger over her beloved books or gaze at the paintings that move her spirit, she fills the void with music and memories of her family, a past that suddenly becomes all too present when her late father’s journals are found amid the ruins of an old shipwreck. With the help of Morgan, a delinquent teenager performing community service, Elizabeth goes through the diaries, a journey through time that brings the two women closer together. Entry by entry, these unlikely friends are drawn deep into a world far removed from their own, to Porphyry Island on Lake Superior, where Elizabeth’s father manned the lighthouse seventy years before. As the words on these musty pages come alive, Elizabeth and Morgan begin to realize that their fates are connected to the isolated island in ways they never dreamed.
The Lightkeeper’s Wife by Sarah Anne Johnson
Hannah shouldn’t be in the water, saving shipwrecked sailors. Her husband would be furious–it’s his job to tend to the lighthouse on Cape Cod, to warn the ships off the rocks. But when the ship Cynthia Rose runs aground, John is away buying supplies, and Hannah rushes out into the storm. She can only fish one sailor out of the icy water–weatherworn, half-drunk Billy. Annie lives a stifling life as the wife of a sea captain. When tragedy strikes, she realizes that she can no longer be a passenger in her own life. Soon, she’s swept into a world of pirates, danger, and other women who fight for what they want no matter the price.
The Ridge by Michael Koryta
For years, a lighthouse at the top of a hill called Blade Ridge has lit up the surrounding woods. But when the lighthouse keeper is found dead, strange things begin happening to the people and animals in the area.
NonFiction
Brilliant Beacons : A History of the American Lighthouse by Eric Jay Dolin
Set against the backdrop of an expanding nation, Brilliant Beacons traces the evolution of America’s lighthouse system from its earliest days, highlighting the political, military, and technological battles fought to illuminate the nation’s hardscrabble coastlines. Beginning with “Boston Light,” America’s first lighthouse, Dolin shows how the story of America, from colony to regional backwater, to fledging nation, and eventually to global industrial power, can be illustrated through its lighthouses.
Hudson River : Lighthouses & History by Kevin Woyce
Henry Hudson explored the river that now bears his name in 1609. The arrival of the steamboat 200 years later, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, made the Hudson one of America’s busiest rivers. From 1826 until the middle of the 20th century, more than a dozen lighthouses guided ships past its islands and shallows. Hudson River: Lighthouses & History is an illustrated tour of these lights, past and present, and of the river they marked–from its Revolutionary War battlefields and early industries to modern-day cities, bridges, and parks.
Lighthouses of Atlantic Canada : New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador : A Pictorial Guide by Courtney Thompson
Under Barnegat’s Beam : Light on Happenings Along the Jersey Shore by Bayard Randolph Kraft
—Archana Chiplunkar, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian