Barnegat Lighthouse
It was a sparkly pre-spring day in New Jersey when I decided to go to the Jersey Shore – to Barnegut Lighthouse, specifically. I guess it is becoming a thing. Laura the Lighthouse Explorer. It was just a quick 90 minute trip – through forests and trees and beautiful scenery to get to the coastline.
Just inside the lighthouse are several plaques.
“This lighthouse was constructed as an aid to ships bound for New York Harbor, either coming up the coast from the south or crossing the Gulf Stream from Europe. It was never intended as an aid to mariners entering Barnegat Inlet because this was an undertaking much too dangerous to undertake at night.”
I can attest to the high waves – it was a warm, beautiful day, but the waves crashed fabulously and with great gusto against the rocks. As I watched the waves roll in, one bigger than the last one, I was again moved by the enormity of the sea, and the immense power within.
The next plaque spelled out how to identify the lighthouses, both by day and night, storm and calm:
“Each lighthouse has a coded sequence of light flashes, which made it possible for the mariner to identify the light at night. This was one flash every ten seconds at each point of the compass. At sea level, the light could be seen for twenty miles – and from the top of a mast, for 30 miles.
Each lighthouse is also painted a distinctive pattern, called a daymark, which makes it easy to identify by day. Barnegat Lighthouse is painted red and white so mariners will not mistake it for any other lighthouse.
Who knew? It falls back into the category of all the things I don’t know that I don’t know. Of course, they have a way to distinguish one from another, but it never occurred to me. I’m happy to know it, though – not that I’ll ever need to, but it is cool to realize there is a whole world of communication going on out in the ocean. What I’d really like to know is what happened for this plaque to be written:
“Some lighthouses, especially those located on dangerous shoals, are equipped with fog signals. A deliberate decision was made not to put a fog signal at Barnegat. It was feared that mariners would sail too close to the coast in an attempt to use the fog signal as a navigational aid, and thus increase their chances of disaster.
Was this a case of boys being boys while steering big ships? Curious minds want to know. What I do know is that I’m digging my outings to see new things. Living here in the middle of everything, as opposed to the middle of nothing, I almost feel a duty to explore.
Speaking of boys being boys, Arthur and I spent a lovely day together. Now that he’s able to crawl, he’s decided he wants to walk instead. We spent a whole day chasing around playing with blocks, big legos, trucks and big plastic rings. We laughed, sang songs, read fairy tales (man, those things are violent!) and basically had the most wonderful time possible. How I love this happy life.
