Category Archives: Souvenirs

A Lighthouse Novel for Young Adults by Nell Wise Wechter

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Two children’s books by the same author came across my desk today. Both books are available in paperback and in an omnibus e-book collection. The author is Nell Wise Wechter,1 a native of the Carolina Coast. She wrote the young adult novel Taffy of Torpedo Junction and Teach’s Light. Click the links for book reviews from UNC.

The books and the e-books are available from Amazon worldwide. A special offer by the University of North Carolina Press (UNC) makes the e-book a better buy as it includes the two books for a special price.

I just ordered the e-book omnibus collection as a special present for my fiancé on my Kindle. It sure makes ordering books easy.

A quick note on each book:

Taffy of Torpedo Junction by Nell Wise Wechter

A longtime favorite of several generations of Tar Heels, Taffy of Torpedo Junction is the thrilling adventure story of thirteen-year-old Taffy Willis, who, with the help of her pony and dog, exposes a ring of Nazi spies operating from a secluded house on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, during World War II. – UNC

Teach’s Light – Tale of Blackbeard the Pirate by Nell Wise Wechter

The legend of Teach’s Light has been handed down by the people of Stumpy Point village in coastal North Carolina for nearly three centuries. – UNC

 

What is lighthouse about these books? The North Carolina coast is host to a raft of lighthouses!

Please let the readers know what you think of the books. I will also add a note later when I have finished them.

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FOOTNOTES:

1 About the Author

The late Nell Wise Wechter, an Outer Banks native, was a widely admired author, storyteller, historian, and journalist. As a schoolteacher near Cape Hatteras during World War II, she could look out her classroom window to see ships being sunk by the Germans. Her story of Taffy was inspired by these real events and the courage of the people who lived through them.

MORE on Model Lighthouse Working Plans

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After writing the article on Model Lighthouse Working Plans for lawn ornaments or household decorations, I was told of another place in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania called the Lighthouse Man.who offers custom crafted lawn lighthouses – kits and ready-made stucco, stone, wood and plastic lighthouses. Wow, I do not know where to begin! Take a look at some of the beautiful creations in the photo below. Click the photo to take you directly to the page. For others follow the links on the left. Enjoy! 

 

Model Lighthouse Woodworking Plans

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Have you ever wanted to build your own lighthouse for a lawn display, sitting in the house, or maybe on the beach as a decoration, or how about a bird lighthouse? I received a notice about free lighthouse plans. Following the lead I came to a website that asked for US $67 for their free plans. Not really wanting to spend that much money, I started a Google Search. I found this model lighthouse below at U-Bild.com. Not a bad price either.

Lighthouse (Plan #860)

 But it does not end there. They have a Lighthouse Value Plans package that gives you three lighthouses to build – Lighthouse Plan #C159. This package includes the plan above Continue reading Model Lighthouse Woodworking Plans →

Reprint – Christmas Tree Lighthouse

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Do you want to save a lighthouse? Do you like lighthouse Christmas ornaments? This article might appeal to you. It appeals to me because it is another way to raise money to save a lighthouse. If you look on this website, there are many more ideas too.

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Christmas tree lighthouse

Reprinted with permission from Tim Croft of The Star

First published July 26, 2012 11:58 AM

Lighthouse ornament

The St. Joseph Historical Society (Port St. Joe, Florida) is encouraging folks to put a touch of lighthouse under the Christmas tree this year.

As part of a fund-raising effort in its quest to save the Cape San Blas Lighthouse from the wrath of Mother Nature, the Historical Society is selling a gorgeous brass-and-silver colored replica of the lighthouse in the form of a Christmas ornament.

Cape Blas lighthouse

Each ornament costs the Historical Society $10 – Cape San Blas Lighthouse is emblazoned across the top-front of the ornament, St Joseph Historical Society on the lower back – to produce.

Members of the SJBHS are selling each ornament for $20, with the other $10 going directly toward the fundraising pot to save the lighthouse. Continue reading Reprint – Christmas Tree Lighthouse →

Are You Looking for Lighthouse-Related Items?

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When I was browsing a crafty website called Completely Coastal which I reviewed earlier I came across an advertisement for Etsy. Searching for things lighthouse, I typed that into the Etsy page search box. The page in the picture below came up.

It is page one (1) of two hundred eighteen (218) pages of lighthouse-related items, for a total of 8,696! Enjoy! Tell us what you bought!

Clicking on the photo below takes you to the lighthouse search items on Etsy.

About a Comment Received

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A while ago I wrote a short review on a new book called the Lightkeeper’s Menagerie by Elinor DeWire.

After the publication of the review, Elinor wrote in the Comments section of my website:

This website is absolutely wonderful! I’ve been spending a lot of time on it of late reading all the posts and stories. Kudos to you for preserving this important story! Thank you as well for the nice comments about my book, The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie. I hope you’ve picked up a copy. If not, I’ll send you one if you provide a mailing address. The book has several stories from BC, including Ivory Island and McInnes. If you visit my website you’ll see my other lighthouse books. I’m working on my 18th lighthouse book now. Guardians of the Lights is my favorite and includes some BC stories. Chris Mills read it while serving at Ivory and contacted me; we remain fast friends. He is coming to BC in July and I hope to see him then. He visited me in 2010 and spoke to a nonprofit group I chaired at the time–wonderful man who’s done much to preserve lighthouse history. Currently, I’m writing a book about BC lightkeepers, to be published in 2013 by Paradise Cay Publications, Arcata, CA. I was in BC for two weeks in early June and met Milt Magee at Cape Mudge and the Tiglmanns at Nootka. I’d love to make contact with more of the keepers. Could you help me with that? I am interested in telling their stories and preserving the history. Pictures are really helpful too, as they convey so much of the story and augument the text. I know the keepers (including you??) have scads of pictures. Fisheries is lax to put me in touch with serving keepers, due to the sensitivity about de-staffing. They say they want no more negative press and worry about what I’ll print. I am not planning a tirade in print about de-staffing. I think anyone who reads my books and articles knows how important it is to keep lighthouses staffed–the message is clearly implied in the narrative without hammers and nails and crucifixtion of “The Powers.” People grow to love the stories and then grasp the issues. I know this chapter of history is coming to a close someday–later rather than sooner, I hope–and it needs to be documented and saved. I’m doing my best to make that happen. You’re doing your part. Thanks again for this wonderful website. I look forward to hearing from you.

[private]My email is elinordewire@gmail.com. My address is P.O. Box 1022, Seabeck, WA 98380. Feel free to share my contact info with any keepers, active or retired, and let them know I’d enjoy emailing with them.  Best wishes–Elinor DeWire [/private]

So, any lightkeepers or others want to help Elinor, please contact her through her webpage.

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This email was dated June 22, 2012. Boy am I late! Well, finally, today, I got around to answering it. Please drop by her website if you any interest at all in stories about lighthouses. Elinor has lots!

I also see she has a list of Lighthouse Articles, some of which sound very interesting. I will ask her if I can reprint a couple. Maybe I can talk her into writing one especially for this website on BC lighthouse keepers. – retlkpr

Reprint – The Great Pacific Garbage Reality

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May 27, 2012 – copied from the LA Times

The great Pacific garbage reality. It’s not tsunami debris we should fear; it’s the trash clogging our oceans – Usha Lee McFarling

I received permission today to reprint this article written by Usha Lee McFarling supporting the theory expressed in my story  Japanese Debris On The BC Coast – Is it from the Tsunami?

In thirty-two (32) years living on and beachcombing the British Columbia (BC) coast in many different areas, I still believe that the press is making a big, and false, hoopla over this.

Sure, every year debris comes on the western North American (NA) coasts in the wintertime – a lot of it from Asia (not only Japan!). This year seems to be an exceptionally good year for garbage with tides and currents working well together to bring it to the NA shores, and the debris is also supplemented by the Japanese tsunami of March 2011. Don’t panic! It has been happening every year, with or without the tsunami!

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The Story from Ms. McFarling:

Harley-Davidson ( Peter Mark / Kyodo News, Associated Press / May 2, 2012 ) A rusting Harley-Davidson from Miyagi prefecture, Japan, was discovered on a remote beach in British Columbia in late April and photographed May 2.

For months, West Coast residents have been bracing for an onslaught of items drifting toward us since last spring’s tsunami in northeastern Japan, which swept apartment buildings, cars, even entire villages, into the sea.

Now we are seeing the first trickle of that debris. A ghost ship arrived in the Gulf of Alaska this spring. A rusting Harley Davidson from Miyagi prefecture was discovered on a remote beach in British Columbia. A soccer ball found on an Alaskan island and marked with a personal message was returned to its delighted teenage owner in the tsunami-devastated town of Rikuzentakata.

Like dreams — or nightmares — these wayward bits of other people’s lives bring us closer to the distant disaster. They make the world smaller. A number of groups have started projects to reunite recovered possessions with their former owners. And one beachside town in Oregon is hoping tsunami “treasure hunting” will result in increased tourism.

But now that the first unlikely items have reached us, we’re also beginning to worry: Will the debris be radioactive? Will human remains turn up? Will mountains of scrap cover our beaches? One blogger callously suggested the Japanese government should pay for the cleanup.

Such reactions reveal a torrent of misconception. Continue reading Reprint – The Great Pacific Garbage Reality →

Calling All Lighthouse Collectors

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I really do not know how to phrase this, but if you like lighthouse memorabilia, then this is the ultimate to have!

2919_4715_Patek Philipp_Ref 2481

It is a watch by Patek Philippe called ‘The Lighthouse’, a pink gold wristwatch with center seconds and cloisonné enamel dial, (Sale 2919, lot 4715, estimate: HKD 1,600,000 – 2,400,000/ USD 200,000 – 300,000). It is for sale at Christie’s Auction House for the Spring 2012 Important Watches Auction on May 30, 2012. Continue reading Calling All Lighthouse Collectors →

Books on BC Lighthouses

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Over the years since I started this website in 2005 I have collected many books on British Columbia lighthouses. Some with only a reference to lighthouse, others dedicated exclusively to BC lighthouses like Donald Graham’s books.

Later I will dedicate a page to each book as I have to some earlier ones, but right now I am more interested in showing newcomers what is/was available so that they will recognize them when they are found in a flea market or garage sale.

If you click on the photo left, it will take you to a modified page from my old website which lists books that I have collected over the years. It will also specify if the book is available for sale or not.

Listed below are a few more lighthouse-related books that did not make it onto that list before I created this new website. If you can, please send me an email or comment about a new book that you have found. I will add it to the list and we can make this as complete as possible. Also, if possible, would you please also send a scan of the front cover so I can add it to the pages. You know the old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Thank you.

Shipwrecks Along the West Coast Trail – Richard E. Wells – Sono Nis Press

Silent Seige III – Bert Webber – 301 pages – Webb Research Group (December 1992) 

The Last Island – Alison Watt – Harbour Publishing – 978-1-55017-296-6 · 1-55017-296-4
$34.95 · Hardback 6.5 x 9.5 · 192 pp · September 2002 (Available)
http://www.harbourpublishing.com/title/TheLastIsland
ISBN-10: 0936738731, 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches

There’s A Landing Today – Richard E. Wells – Sono Nis press


Disegno Canadian Jewellery

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Pamela Coulston, the lady that wrote the story Ice and Men which I reprinted on this website also has another talent – she designs jewellery – Canadian-inspired jewellery. This is not a plug to get you to buy her jewellery. I get no commissions from it. I just wanted to bring to your attention the craftsmanship here. Myself, I love silver jewellery, but there is also gold offered if you are so inclined. I have three or four favourites among her selections.

 It’s hard to say which is my most favourite, but this salmon from her Canadian West Coast Marine Life collection is one of I would choose first. It is 5 cms long and swivels actively on a necklace. I would have to say this ranks number one with me.

  Continue reading Disegno Canadian Jewellery →