Craighill Keeper’s bLog

Remember when we took a Chesapeake Bay Magazine journalist and photographer out to Craighill for a day? The feature article is finally available in the May issue - which has already gone out to subscribers, but doesn’t appear to be available yet for newsstand purchase. Soon! Author Marty LeGrand’s piece about local lighthouses and the challenges and successes of off-shore ownership paints a fantastic picture. The photographs by Tamzin Smith accentuate and enhance the tales, particularly the images showing how difficult it is to access our little caisson in the Bay. Don’t miss this issue!

I’m heading out to Thomas Point tomorrow for a day of bird poop scraping and sweeping. Always fun! I look forward to getting out to Craighill soon to check on it after the winter and do the same endless task of bird poop cleaning. We’re also working out resolving the difficult access issues so we can get volunteer crews out over the next couple months for lead abatement and painting. Stay tuned!

If you’re in or near DC, I’ll also be selling books and doing a book signing at Argia’s restaurant in Falls Church next Sunday, April 27th. Come on by!

If you purchase the book through the link below, I’ll even autograph your copy! Plus, this means more proceeds from the book will go directly into the lighthouse restoration (and make-it-safe) fund! Total cost is $25 with shipping. Thanks!! I hope you enjoy it! I really worked hard to dig up some photos that weren’t found in other books. It’s almost lighthouse/boating season! We should start ramping up posts and updates here soon.

In Colonial times, as the Chesapeake Bay and larger rivers became vital shipping channels, the need arose to mark Maryland’s dangerous shoals and waterways. Lighthouses sprang up throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, including wood-framed cottages placed upon screw pile foundations that stood offshore in the unforgiving waters. Most of these unique structures did not survive, lost tragically to ice that also occasionally claimed the lives of the keepers who faithfully tended them and rescued mariners in trouble. With the advent of electricity and GPS, many beacons succumbed to vandalism and neglect, leaving a fraction remaining.

Tomorrow’s the day! Finally, the publication date for the Maryland’s Lighthouses book will arrive tomorrow. I believe it will be available in most common book store chains (Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc.). However, I will be doing book signings and have also bought a batch of 200 to sell individually and all net profits from that batch go into the lighthouse fund. Stay tuned for details! I’m a little nervous now that my baby is going to hit the public stands. I hope everyone enjoys it and gets something out of it! I know it was an eye opening and enjoyable research project to undertake and I hope I did those lights justice.