Forgotten Beacons: Lighthouses & Lightships of the Chesapeake Bay

Rating:
Summary: Some inaccuracies, photos not useful and poor quality
Review: Somewhat disappointing. Not well written, poorly researched.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Look Back
Review: This book is a excellent companion to another great work by author Linda Turbyville entitled Bay Beacons: Lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay, which describes the existing lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay region. Like that earlier work, this book is a must-have for lighthouse and history enthusiasts desiring to learn more about the lighthouses and history of the Chesapeake Bay.

The book is divided by three time periods, and describes the lighthouses and lightships constructed during each of them. The text is teaming with interesting information on the lights themselves and the time period under which they were constructed, with information on their physical construction, the people involved, local events surrounding the lighthouses and lightships, and their ultimate demise.

Glossy black and white photographs abound throughout the book for each lighthouse or lightship under discussion, with lengthy descriptive text accompanying them which highlights the particulars of each light and its ultimate disposition (retirement and/or destruction). Other photos and text of interest include lighthouse lenses, attendant apparatus, unique lighthouse construction methods, lighthouse keepers, keeper's quarters, lighthouse tenders and depots.

A final chapter concerning the Maryland and Delaware Canal ends the book, along with a summation of the final years of manned lighthouses and the Coast Guard's ultimate automation of the remaining lights that dot the Chesapeake Bay. It's a wonder to consider how many lighthouses and lightships were implimented in the Chesapeake Bay over the years. The reader will be left to conclude that the end of an era has indeed passed along with these "forgotten beacons."

This is more than a nice picture book, and provides a very interesting and informative look at those so-necessary early Chesapeake lighthouses that have since "passed the bar."