Ken Wardius

As fans of lighthouses my family and I have often pulled off the road to get a view, take a picture and just enjoy the scenery. As we leave we often wonder what stories are encased in their walls, why was it built here and what role has it played in its community? “Wisconsin Lighthouses” answers those questions and more.

Authors Ken and Barb Wardius start with an introduction to lighthouses, their origins, terminology, the lenses that focus their beams, the keepers who have maintained them and the agencies that have regulated them. They then take the reader on a guided tour, from lighthouse to lighthouse, along the Lakes: Superior, Winnebago and Michigan. Each lake’s geography is explained as well as the histories of the communities that the lights served. The pages about the Fresnel lens and the uses of lightships answered questions that I had often pondered.

Every featured lighthouse has its own section that tells its history, its people, its lens and any unique features it may have to share. Each one ends with a current status: whether active or not, the type of lens now used and the color and frequency of its beam, whether or not hit has a fog horn, who maintains it, whether it is on a list of Historic Places and finally, directions to get to it.

This is an oversized book with charming narrative and beautiful pictures, the current in vibrant colors and the antique in black and white. We have often visited Wisconsin Lighthouses and I enjoyed reading about those we have seen. Now I feel that I need to go back, with the book, to more thoroughly appreciate what I have merely savored. I now know where to get the best look at Old Bailey’s Harbor Light and how to compare the lights that are twins, or at least close relatives. Read the text and look at those pictures. I have often watched in awe as the sun rises over Lake Michigan, but that picture of sunrise behind the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal North Pierhead Light tempts me to get up and drive to the Coast Guard station await that glorious view. Well maybe. Look at that picture of the snow covered Cana Island, so cold, so crisp, so pure…so alluring. Now that you have read it, sit it on your coffee table so that your guests may pick it up, peruse it and be entranced. Maybe they will accompany you on your next lighthouse visit.

I did receive a free copy of this book for review.… (más)