Light Hearted

Young Seamond in front of the keeper's house at Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts. The guests in this episode are Gloria Coder and Lorna Pierce. Gloria and Lorna are the daughters of the late Seamond Ponsart Roberts (1940-2023). Seamond was the daughter of a longtime lighthouse keeper in Massachusetts, and she was the author of the book Everyday Heroes: The True Story of a Lighthouse Family. Seamond's father, Octave Ponsart, began his lighthouse keeping career at Great Point on Nantucket. He spent five years as the keeper at Dumpling Rock in southeastern Massachusetts, and he and his family barely survived the hurricane of 1938. He became the keeper of Cuttyhunk Light off Cape Cod in 1940. He then spent 11 years as keeper at West Chop Light on Martha’s Vineyard. Seamond spent just a few years as a child at Cuttyhunk, but she always considered it home because of her mother's family's roots there. This is part one of a two part interview. Seamond Ponsart Roberts at Cuttyhunk in 2001, laying a wreath in memory of her parents. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

A light station was established on Maine's 220-acre Great Duck Island in 1890, with a 42-foot-tall brick tower and three keepers’ dwellings. Only one of the three houses remain standing today. The light was automated in 1986 and it remains an active aid to navigation. In 1998 Great Duck Island Light Station, along with Mount Desert Rock Light Station, became the property of Bar Harbor's College of the Atlantic. Students and staff from the college now live in the former keeper's dwelling much of the year. The ongoing research projects largely focus on the island's bird populations. Great Duck Island Light Station, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont. John Anderson (Courtesy of COA) John Anderson has been a professor at College of the Atlantic for more than 30 years. His field research centers around Great Duck Island. John says that he is interested in the intersection between natural history and human history in relation to long-term ecological processes.

Maine’s wave-swept Whaleback Lighthouse. (Photo by Dominic Trapani) In January 2024, two powerful storms -- just three days apart -- struck northern New England, coinciding with the highest tide ever recorded in Portland, Maine, at 14.75 feet. The damage was severe up and down the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, and about a third of Maine’s 66 historic lighthouse sites suffered significant damage. Pemaquid Point Light Station’s bell tower suffered heavy damage during the January 10, 2024 storm.(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.) The nonprofit American Lighthouse Foundation has formed a Storm and Mitigation Response Team that is dedicated to the development of a series of best practices that can help lighthouses become more resilient in the face of future storms. Today’s conversation is with three members of the team. Bob Trapani Jr. is the executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Ford Reiche is the president of the Presumscot Foundation, which owns Halfway Rock Lighthouse in Maine’s Casco Bay. David Pomerantz has a background that includes climate resilience and emergency management. https://youtu.be/ycD2SO5W41M?feature=shared

Richard Klein A lighthouse was proposed in 1896 to mark Peck (or Pecks) Ledge, at the east end of the Norwalk Islands in Connecticut. It began operation in 1906 and was the last staffed lighthouse to be built at a waveswept site on Long Island Sound. Its life as a staffed light was relatively short, only 27 years. It's a typical offshore light of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century period, with a cylindrical cast-iron foundation  topped by a "sparkplug" type cast-iron lighthouse. Peck Ledge Lighthouse, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont. Richard Klein cooking at Peck Ledge Lighthouse The lighthouse was sold via online auction in September 2015, and the owner is now Norwalk Art Space. Today’s conversation is with artist, writer, and curator Richard Klein. Richard has utilized found objects in his sculptural work since the late 1990s. In early September of 2024 Richard spent a week at Peck Ledge Lighthouse, a residency that was sponsored by the Norwalk Art Space. Richard is also the curator of a new show at Norwalk Art Space. The show is called “Sight and Sound: Artists Consider Long Island Sound.” It opens on June 12th and continues through August 28th.

Sean Todd This is an edited version of an interview with Sean Todd that was first heard in episode 72 in July 2020. Sean serves on the marine science faculty at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, and he's also the director of Allied Whale, the college’s marine mammal research program. Mount Desert Rock, more than 20 miles from the nearest port and home to a historic light station, serves as Allied Whale's research station. The former keeper’s house has accommodations for 20 students. Sean also acts as a professional guide, including many seasons in the Antarctic. He created, wrote and starred in the award-winning “Life in the World’s Oceans,” a 30-part DVD series available from TheGreatCourses.com. Mount Desert Rock, Maine. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

Matthew Cohen is a nautical photographer with more than 20 years of experience. Matthew acquired his love of boating as a child and raced with the successful Roger Williams University Varsity Team. Following that, he became an accomplished sailing instructor for 15 years at the Sail Newport Sailing Center, and he’s logged over 30,000 ocean miles as a sailor. Sakonnet Lighthouse, RI. Photo by Matthew Cohen. Matthew Cohen Matthew's work has been printed in more than 30 maritime publications and has been showcased in over a dozen galleries, shows, and retail spaces. He’s now in the early stages of a new photography project related to lighthouses, which is described in this interview. This episode is also available in a special video edition - see https://youtu.be/iklkA8JvSsk?feature=shared

This edition of Light Hearted Lite features several edited interviews that were originally heard in two episodes back in the spring of 2020. The subject is the U.S. Lighthouse Society's popular lighthouse passport program. The program provides enthusiasts the opportunity to help preserve lighthouses, and a great way for them to keep a pictorial history of their lighthouse adventures. Small donations are made by passport holders for the stamps. The interviews are with Skip Sherwood, director of the passport program, and several hall of fame stamp collectors: John MacFarland, James Hill, Sharon Mills, Al King, and Scott Walbert. Click here for more information on the passport program. James Hill Al King Sharon Mills Scott and Diane Walbert John MacFarland Mary Lee and Skip Sherwood

Stratford Point Light Station in 2015, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont David Wright Stratford, Connecticut, was an active port in coastal trade, shipbuilding and oystering in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To mark the entrance to the harbor, the first Stratford Point Lighthouse was built on the west side of the dangerous mouth of the Housatonic River in 1822. The present tower, 35 feet tall, was built along with a new keeper's house in 1881. Theodore of "Theed" Judson was keeper from 1880 to 1921. In his more than 40 years at Stratford Point, Judson frequently made the local newspapers with sightings of sea monsters and mermaids. The light station is still owned by the Coast Guard, but the town of Stratford holds occasional open houses for the public. Our guest in this episode, David Wright, is the Stratford town historian. He gives walking tours and writes articles about local history. When the lighthouse is open, David takes on the identity of Keeper Theodore Judson while his wife portrays the keeper’s wife, Kate.

Conimicut Lighthouse in 2007. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont. This episode has two segments. First is a new interview with Mayor Frank Picozzi of Warwick, Rhode Island, about the recent exterior restoration of Conimicut Lighthouse, which is owned by the city. The major project at the 1883 cast-iron caisson "sparkplug style" tower was carried out in 2024 by Abcore Restoration. Sakonnet Lighthouse in 2010. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont Next is an abridged version of an interview first heard in late 2019 with Scott Brown, president of Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse. The 1882 "sparkplug" off Little Compton, Rhode Island, was restored in 2012 with funding from the federal Transportation Enhancement Program combined with privately raised funds.

Prudence Island Lighthouse, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont Prudence Island, about seven miles long, is the third largest island in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. It was determined around 1850 that a lighthouse was needed to guide vessels passing between Sandy Point, at the island's easternmost extremity, and Aquidneck Island, about a mile to the east. Instead of building a new lighthouse, a disused one at Goat Island in Newport was moved to Prudence Island. Originally built at Goat Island in 1842, the lighthouse still stands at Sandy Point and is the oldest free-standing lighthouse in the state. The granite stairs inside Prudence Island Lighthouse The Prudence Conservancy, a nonprofit organization, was involved with the upkeep of the lighthouse and its grounds since the late 1980s. The Coast Guard granted a license to the group in 2001, and in 2024, the property was conveyed to the Prudence Conservancy under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. Interviewed in this episode are Prudence Island Historian Joe Bains, and Ray Jenness, who is the chairman of the Prudence Conservancy. The interview was recorded at the Prudence Island Historical Museum. The wife and son of Keeper George Gustavus, along with three other people, lost their lives when the keeper's house at Prudence Island was destroyed in the Hurricane of 1938. Courtesy of Joan Kenworthy.