A "friend" to "light" the way.

Hi all,

So I'm finally making my first post on our "Let there be Lighthouses!" blog, and I really look forward to sharing all our lighthouse adventures now and into the future. The reason I'm writing this post is to share with you an awesome and extremely helpful resource we discovered throughout our lighthouse travels. 

  

The name of this resource is Lighthousefriends.com. This is a GREAT website that has the MOST complete list of existing and non-existing (demolished, destroyed, deactivated, etc.) lighthouses throughout the U.S. and Canada. The website is organized really well, and the user can view lighthouses sorted by state, and also see them on a google maps app they created themselves of each state (great for driving directions!)

On the lists you can click each individual lighthouse and it takes you to a very detailed description of the light station, giving the history of it, some fun (or not so fun) facts, the exact latitude/longitude coordinates, a detailed map complete with driving instructions and tips for a traveler new to the area trying to view the lighthouse. 

Just about every lighthouse we have ever seen we used this website to help us either learn of its existence, or get there.

They also are very good at keeping the information about each lighthouse up-to-date. On the front page of the website there are always updated stories about certain lighthouses that show-up in the news for various reasons such as restoration projects, being demolished :'(, or being sold at auction.

Another good resource we've used is the "Lighthouse People". They are Bob and Sandra Shanklin and they're a married couple from Fort Walton Beach, FL who have obviously taken their love for lighthouses to a whole new level (they've taken it up a notch). They have made it their mission to see and photograph every single lighthouse in the U.S. (and now moving onto Canada) THEMSELVES. They have a website where you can view and buy prints of their photos, and also a very handy guidebook (which we have of course purchased) called "List of All Existing U.S. Lighthouses". Here's their website.

Enjoy!