Light Hearted

Light Hearted


Light Hearted ep 13 – Gary Childs, Race Point, Cape Cod; early lighthouse technology

July 12, 2019

Race Point Light Station, photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

Jeremy D'Entremont and Michelle Jewell Shaw co-host the third and final episode for Cape Cod week. Jeremy interviews Gary Childs, chairman of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The chapter manages three lighthouses in Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape. The focus of the interview is Race Point Light Station, which was the subject of an amazing restoration in the 1990s and is open for overnight stays.

Early brazier light at North Foreland, England.USLHS archives.

Michelle and Jeremy discuss early lighthouse technology—specifically, the various kinds of illuminants and apparatus that were used in the early days of lighthouses, before the important invention of the Fresnel lens in the 1820s.

And there's another trivia question with a chance for listeners to win prizes.