Craighill Keeper’s bLog

Auto truck for Portsmouth L.H. Depot, VA. Ford Smith Form A Truck taken at Baltimore, MD Oct. 10, 1916. Photo by the Hughes Co. (Photo of a photo as I begin my research for a pictorial history of Maryland lighthouses)

Did I mention I’m writing a book? I was contacted by Arcadia Publishing to write a pictorial history on Maryland lighthouses, which is basically a giant research project. I recently did a “half way through the season report card” on the Washington Nationals baseball team and I was the only blogger who replied to the spam request and actually did it, so it was published by default. I kinda feel I’m doing the book under the same premise because I know other folks were asked and turned it down before me. My time constraints are rather restrictive, but I’m plugging along and am rather excited about the project. Call me an aspiring amateur writer and photographer who is quite thrilled at the prospect of being “published” with both text and photos, but it also allows me to dedicate time to one of my passions. Spending a day at Archives II in College Park, MD helped bring back all the love and passion for lighthouses that I had somewhat forgotten getting immersed in the day-to-day angst over boat issues and scheduling. Sifting through box after box of historic photos and lingering over each one (even Virginia ones, which is where I found this one - the coolest historic auto photo ever) was quite enjoyable. My only disappointment was being disallowed from taking photos out of their plastic protective sleeves or turning on the lights in the photo stand, so many photos are probably not useable for the book despite my digital developing prowess.

As I sorted through the photos at the end of my last box, I stared puzzled. There was a lighthouse missing. Mine. In fact, I never ran across a single photo of any of the Craighill range lights. Then I realized I had also not seen any of the Baltimore Light. Or Seven Foot Knoll. I know historic photos exist for those lights as I’ve seen them on the USCG Historian’s list of Maryland lighthouses. I checked with the desk and asked if there were any more boxes that they didn’t bring out. Nope. They rechecked their list for the 5th District, and even skimmed others. Nothing.

So I have an appointment with the Coast Guard historian’s office o-dark-thirty Tuesday morning to go through the photos they have. This time I need to bring matte glass and remember an extra card for my camera. Hopefully I can run through all of them and still get home in time to see my daughter off to her first day of kindergarten! (a scheduling conflict I realized after I made the appointment - eek!)

Reminder! September 22nd is the first annual Craighill Cup sailing race! Email or post a comment for more information.