Light Hearted

Light Hearted ep 337 – Two special lighthouse cruises on the Maine coast

[https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1-1024x768.png]Bar Harbor Whale Watch’s lighthouse cruise on September 5 will be aboard the Friendship V. This episode focuses on two very special experiences available to lighthouse lovers and lovers of the rocky coast of Maine. The first segment highlights an all-day “Mid-Coast & Monhegan Island 19 Lighthouse Cruise” [https://www.barharborwhales.com/midcoast19lighthousecruise2026/]with Bar Harbor Whale Watch this coming September 5. Interviewed in the segment are Julie Taylor, lead naturalist for Bar Harbor Whale Watch; Zack Klyver, marine mammal scientist, educator, and conservationist; and Bob Trapani Jr., executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Together with U.S. Lighthouse Society Historian Jeremy D’Entremont and photographer Mike Leonard, this team will narrate the September 5th cruise. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DSC1592adj-1024x683.jpg]Saddleback [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DSC_2670adj-1024x683.jpg]Bass Harbor Head [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IMG_0882adj-1024x683.jpg]Egg Rock Next is an interview with Captain Barry King of the schooner Mary Day [https://www.schoonermaryday.com/], which is homeported in Camden, Maine. Jeremy D’Entremont will be on board to help narrate a 6-day lighthouse cruise, [https://www.wetravel.com/trips/6-day-cruise-lighthouse-cruises-schooner-mary-day-0362221936] July 26 to August 1. A Maine sailing legend, the Mary Day, a two-masted gaff topsail schooner, was built in 1962 by the famous Harvey Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol, Maine. Unlike earlier schooners that were built to fish or to carry cargo, Mary Day was designed and built to carry passengers. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/image-1024x554.png]The schooner Mary Day [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IMG_0138adj-1024x683.jpg]Curtis Island Lighthouse in Camden, Maine, and the Camden Hills ----------------------------------------

Light Hearted ep 336 – Author Bob Napolitano and “The Lighthouse Keeper”

[https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/book-cover-687x1024.jpg] Bob Napolitano is from Everett, Massachusetts, and now lives in Londonderry, New Hampshire. “The Lighthouse Keeper,” which was published last year, is his seventh book. The main character, John Russell, takes a job as the keeper of the Willamette River Lighthouse in Oregon at the age of 27 in 1923. He sees the lighthouse as a place to heal from unfortunate decisions he’s made in his life, but he eventually wonders if it’s more of a prison than a sanctuary. Shanghaied sailors, brothel barges, opium and bootleg liquor, and floating bodies all play a part in the story. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/bob-napolitano-816x1024.jpg]Bob Napolitano The primary setting of the story is the Willamette River Light Station, which stood at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, about ten miles north of downtown Portland, Oregon. It was established in 1895. After it was decommissioned, it eventually burned down, leaving just a few pilings. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Williamette-River-OR-1024x815.jpg]Willamette River Lighthouse, Oregon. USLHS archives.

Light Hearted Lite 38 – Jen Lewis, Point Cabrillo, CA

In this episode we revisit an interview that was first heard in 2021. Our guest is Jen Lewis, Fundraising and Outreach Manager for the Point Cabrillo Light Station in northern California. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/IMG_2864adj-1024x683.jpg]Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, California. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Jen-Lewis-1.jpeg]Jen Lewis Point Cabrillo is about midway between San Francisco and the border with Oregon. In 1908 a combined lighthouse and fog signal building was built of local redwood and Douglas fir. Today Point Cabrillo Light Station is a California State Historic Park, and the nonprofit Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association manages and interprets the site. Jen Lewis grew up in Oregon, and she began volunteering at Point Cabrillo in 2016. She eventually became the Outreach Manager, taking care of social media and fundraising for the Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association. Jen has been on this podcast several times as a guest and as a co-host.

Light Hearted ep 335 – Bjorn Karlstrom and “Lighthouse Reading”; Kevin Arsenault, Coast Guard light keeper in Maine

There are two guests in this episode. The first, Bjorn Karlstrom, splits his time between Florida in the and the beautiful island of Gotland in Sweden. After developing a substantial lighthouse-related library, he decided to start a website that might be useful to others looking for information. His site Lighthouse Reading, at lhreading.com [https://lhreading.com/], now has listings for more than 3,800 lighthouse publications. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/screenshot_1276-1024x120.png]http://lhreading.com/ Massachusetts native Kevin Arsenault was a police officer for about 30 years and now serves as constable in the town of Gardner. He joined the Coast Guard at 19 years old in 1976 and was assigned to Matinicus Rock, an isolated outpost about 20 miles from the mainland in midcoast Maine. After a year there, he spent 18 months at Whitehead Light station, much closer to the mainland at the southwestern entrance to Penobscot Bay. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/DSC_2819adj-1024x683.jpg]Matinicus Rock Light Station, Maine. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/IMG_5699adj-1024x683.jpg]Whitehead Light Station, Maine. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont.

Light Hearted Lite 37 – Erik Nissen Johansen, Pater Noster, Sweden

[https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/pater-noster-small.png]Pater Noster Lighthouse Pater Noster is a small archipelago off the west coast of Sweden. The island group’s name, which means “The Lord’s Prayer,” is said to come from the tradition that mariners would recite the Lord’s Prayer as they negotiated their way around the dangerous reefs in the vicinity. The 105-foot-tall, red, cast-iron lighthouse was constructed in 1868. [https://news.uslhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/erik-nissen-johansen-1024x683.jpeg]Erik Nissen Johansen A complete restoration of the lighthouse began in 2002. Since 2020, the location has been operated as a small hotel. The facilities include rooms with a sea view, a restaurant, and three boathouses for dinner and conferences. Our guest, Erik Nissen Johansen is the founder and creative director of Stylt Trampoli, a multi-award winning hospitality design company. He is now a partner in the Pater Noster hotel. This is an edited version of a conversation first heard in episode 115 in April 2021.