KAPTN KEN                   Lighthouses           

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Augustin Jean Fresnel is the man who made a breakthrough in lighthouse optics. Born in France in1788, he died on Bastille Day 1827, at the age of 39. He realized that glass lenses could be made thinner and lighter by stepping the thickness of the glass and this technique is used today for many applications.  The steps are like individual prisms, and bend the light to exit in a different direction depending on the shape of the lens. Fresnel also realized that individual prisms could function as a lens if shaped correctly and positioned acurately, thus the multi-piece lens was developed and was much lighter than it's solid glass counterpart.

   The huge lenses that can be seen up close in many of the coastal lighthouses are magnificent displays of the art of lens-making using glass prisms and well worth the side trip to these sentinals of our seafaring past.

   The oldest form of lighthouse is believed to be the massive structure, Pharos, at the Port of Alexandria erected in 270 B.C., it was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Its height has been estimated anywhere from 350 to 600 feet, atoped by fire beacons that were kept burning all night, and could be seen many miles into the Meditteranean Sea.  Another massive "lighthouse" was built in 50 A.D. at the Port entrance to Ostia, and soon the Mediterranean shores were dotted with beacons to guide the ships at night.

  France and England followed suit and built lighthouses along their shores where ever there was danger for the ships.  The USA Eastern Seaboard saw a lighthouse as early as 1716 at Boston, but it was the early 1800's before the North Pacific was to be illuminated by anything resembling a lighthouse.

  These early structures used oil lamps and reflectors to shine a weak light into the night in the hope that it would warn sailors of potential danger. The Fresnel lens, although expensive, was a big step forward in getting the light further out to sea to do it's good work.

   Modern technology has doomed the classic lighthouse and it's lightkeeper. The Coast Guard has automated  these sentinals and some, that were in need of expensive reconstruction, have been replaced with a simple tower or pole with a rotating electric light.  However there are many that are still standing and have been returned to full operation by the Coast Guard, interested volunteer groups, States, Counties and the American Lighthouse Society.

   Some of the Pacific Coast lighthouses are located in or near RV Parks and tours are given during the summer months. One such lighthouse, at Heceta Head on the Central Oregon Coast, has a Bed & Breakfast operation in the old lightkeepers residence next to the restored lighthouse and can be accessed via Devil's Elbow State Park on highway 101 just north of Florence

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