Light Homes
A style of lighthouse found mostly in the United States, these buildings which often look like a residential house with a light tower stuck onto the roof, can be found on tiny man-made islands in bays, or in coastal locations.
Whole families lived in the light homes along the coast. The Irish equivalents had a lighthouse structure alongside residential buildings, but similarly, entire families would move from lighthouse to lighthouse as required.
Scroll through the images below and imagine your family lived in a lighthouse. Your house would probably be far away from other houses but you’d be helping to do an important job.
Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse, Chesapeake, Maryland, USA
Race Rock Lighthouse, Long Island Sound, USA
Point No Point Lighthouse, Chesapeake, Maryland, USA
Nobska Lighthouse, nears Woods Hole, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
Ballast Point Lighthouse, San Diego, California
Lake Borgne Lighthouse, Point Clear, Mississippo
Horn Island Lighthouse, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Greenbury Point Lighthouse, Annapolis, Maryland
Bergen Point Lighthouse, Newark, New Jersey
St. Croix Lighthouse, Calais, Maine
Images above taken from: Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses: Hudson River to Chesapeake Bay, photographs by Bruce Roberts, text by Ray Jones, The Globe Pequot Press, 1996 and Lost Lighthouses; Stories and Images of America’s Vanished Lighthouses, Tim Harrison and Ray Jones, The Globe Pequot Press, 1999.