Wave-Swept Lighthouses of New England

In the United States, the earliest attempts to build wave-swept lighthouses in the 1830s led to several masterpieces of engineering, a few of which are in the New England region. This collection of mailable vintage-photograph postcards focuses on Whaleback (Maine), Saddleback Ledge (Maine), Minot’s Ledge (Massachusetts), Halfway Rock (Maine), Graves Ledge (Massachusetts), and Ram Island Ledge (Maine). All of these wave-swept lighthouses stand in rugged testimony to the people who designed and built them, and they also serve to remind us of the struggles and sacrifices of the lighthouse keepers who kept a good light for so many years before automation.