Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
October 2, 1902 Operations began for a lighthouse in England’s ceremonial county of East Sussex. This lighthouse is located in the part of the English Channel that is below the cliffs of the headland known as Beachy Head. It was built to replace the Belle Tout Lighthouse, which had been in service since 1834 and... Continue Reading →
Luis Ramón de Florez, who earned renown as a U.S. Navy aviator and officer, was born in New York City on March 4, 1889. His father Raphael V. de Florez was Spanish and his mother Marie Stephanie (Bernard) de Florez was French. Luis Ramón de Florez attended preparatory schools in both Paris, France, and the... Continue Reading →
September 25, 1845 Construction began on a lighthouse in the port city of Calais in northern France. This lighthouse was built as a navigational aid for vessels traveling through the Strait of Dover, a narrow but heavily used passage of water that separates France from England and marks the boundary between the English Channel and... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1953 A pilot cutter was launched in the town and civil parish of Dartmouth in southwestern England. The vessel was built by the Dartmouth-area shipbuilder Philip and Son for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB) -- now called the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company -- for use on the section of the... Continue Reading →
June 24, 1850 A major milestone for a lighthouse in Maine took place when a contract was officially entered into for rebuilding that navigational aid’s tower. This lighthouse is on Monhegan Island, which is located about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) off the state’s mainland coast. The call for proposals to replace Monhegan Island... Continue Reading →
June 5, 1905 In the northwestern part of Washington State, a lighthouse on Semiahmoo Bay first went into service. The Semiahmoo Lighthouse -- located near the Evergreen State’s port city of Blaine -- was built in response to the notable increase in shipping traffic due to numerous fish canneries in the region. This Victorian-style structure... Continue Reading →
On October 25, 2017, a dedication ceremony was held for a memorial commemorating West Virginia state highway employees who have lost their lives in work zone collisions. The creation of this memorial was spearheaded by the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH), the largest agency of the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT). The WVDOH... Continue Reading →
For two decades, Sally Snowman served as the keeper of Boston Light on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. When she retired from the position on December 30, 2023, Snowman – 72 years old at the time – had the distinction of being the last official lighthouse keeper in the United States.... Continue Reading →
March 5, 1890 Alan Brebner, a Scottish civil engineer who left a considerable legacy when it came to the development of lighthouses, died in Edinburgh at the age of 63. “He had a ready and retentive memory, and was expert in methods of calculation,” noted his obituary in the London-based monthly magazine The Engineer.... Continue Reading →
February 21, 1894 A pilot boat constructed by shipbuilder Moses Adams (1837-1894) in Essex, Massachusetts, was launched. Moses, who died less than five months after this launch, built the vessel for a company of Sandy Hook pilots. These pilots are transported via such boats to ships bound for or already within the region encompassing of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 