For as long as people have traveled the seas, others have
tried to make their journeys safer by lighting bonfires on hilltops. The first
actual lighthouses – probably built by ancient Greeks and Romans – were towers
or ramps to elevate the signal fires. The oldest surviving lighthouse in the
United States is the Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey. It was built in 1764 by
a coalition of 43 prominent New York merchants, hoping to ensure the safe
arrival of their shipments. Lighthouses were vital to maritime navigation for thousands
of years before the development of electronic navigational systems like GPS,
radar beacons, and buoys. They’re no longer needed to guide ships past
treacherous waters or through fog and storm. But they’re beautiful reminders of
simpler times. Some have been repurposed as homes or vacation destinations. August
7 is National Lighthouse Day; a good day to book a lighthouse tour, or just
read a book about lighthouses.
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