Lighthouse symbolism in the American landscape.

Few structures built for an utilitarian purpose can evoke such complex human emotions as lighthouses, anachronisms from a bygone system of maritime navigation that are now historic treasures inspiring mystical feelings. The melding of people and environment in the landscape of lighthouses make them key icons in place identity and far more than faddish decor they are symbols of national achievement, dependability under duress, hope, and even religious faith. Some Americans see their lighthouses as equivalent to European castles, structures of permanence worth preservation to tie together multiple generations and provide a focal point for cultural memory (Blake and Smith 2000). Others find personal meaning, with the beacon serving as a metaphor of guidance in their own spiritual quest. These differing perspectives of lighthouses all inspire an affinity for the special places created at the meeting point of water and earth.

Whether it is a soaring tower against a blue sky or a comforting light on the darkest night, lighthouses hold appeal for women and men, young and old. Lighthouse symbolism transcends culture and time as well, as witnessed by three of the world's most famous lighthouses, which blend art with a light guiding ships into harbor: the Colossus of Rhodes (Helios) and the Pharos of Alexandria, both hailed as among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and a later sculpture inspired by the Colossus--the Statue of Liberty. Symbolism and art were the primary aim in the construction of the Colossus and Lady Liberty, with the lighthouse function integral but secondary, whereas the Pharos of Alexandria was the world's first known lighthouse constructed expressly to cast a beacon. The Pharos was built 2,300 years ago to a height of well over 400 feet (the tallest lighthouse ever), and it stood for 1,500 years until it was destroyed by an earthquake, meeting the same fate as the Colossus of Rhodes. The age, height, and mythical status of the tower results in "pharos" as the root word for lighthouse in several languages and "pharologist" for a person studying lighthouses.

Guiding Lights

Three scenes stand out in my travels as metaphors guiding me to the key symbolic traits of lighthouses. My first view of Oregon's Heceta Head Lighthouse from the south, along US Highway 101, has never been matched for its striking composition of the dark green, conifer-draped headland rising one thousand feet above a deep blue sea into a crystalline sky, the white frame keeper's house set high amidst the trees above a sandy beach with foaming breakers, and the sturdy tower impossibly perched above the crags farther out on the headland (Figure 1).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Another eye-catching sight occurred after climbing 175-foot tall Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse in Ponce Inlet, Florida, the state's highest lighthouse, and stepping out onto the narrow cast iron deck of the watch room gallery. The deep shadow of the tower slanted diagonally across the square layout of the light station grounds, a prospect of contrasting patterns and light intensity that was like an abstract lighthouse painting on Earth's canvas (Figure 2). It was a moment filling my imagination with a sight typically only viewed from the wings of birds.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

My third moment of realization about how lighthouse symbolism is communicated in unexpected ways happened when I entered the lighthouse lens building at the Westport Maritime Museum (Westport, Washington) and first saw an illuminated Fresnel lens. It was not just any lens, but a 17-foot-tall, first order behemoth from the Destruction Island Lighthouse, which contains over 1,150 individual hand-ground glass prisms that refract light into a beam that could be seen for 24 miles at sea. The light pouring out from the lens and the organ music piped through the room's speakers made me feel like I was in a cathedral of the Sun God (Figure 3).

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

The visual, auditory, tactile, and kinetic qualities of these experiences shape my perspective on the main symbolic elements of lighthouses: height, stairwell, lens, topography, architecture, and daymark (lighthouse paint color and pattern). This essay evokes each of these in turn, followed by examples of how lighthouse symbolism is projected on the American landscape with a focus on what within the pantheon of lighthouse symbolism is distinctive at the local, regional, or national scale. I also discuss my nomination of four American lighthouses as symbolically primate within their region, my "first order lighthouses," to borrow the ordinal terminology of lighthouse lens sizes.

In the spirit of D. W. Meinig's (1983) call for …