#lighthouse museum

[azvolrien]

Although the museum has a wide range of exhibits covering many aspects of Scottish lighthouses from their initial designs to their current maintenance, the most striking parts of the collection are definitely the huge Fresnel lenses that were used to concentrate and direct the light from various lighthouses around the coast of Scotland. Modern lighthouses usually just have really bright lights that flash on and off rather than relying on these structures.

Scotland's lighthouses are all automated now; though the Northern Lighthouse Board does have maintenance crews that check the lights are working, keep the glass clean and so on, they don't have keepers in residence 24/7 any more.

[rabbitcruiser]

Seascapes (No. 139)

Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park, CA  

[azvolrien]

The original Kinnaird Head Lighthouse is no longer an active light; when the lighthouses were being automated, it was decided to just build a new one next to it and keep the old one as a heritage monument. So the active beacon is the smaller one in the foreground, while the old one built onto the top of the castle doesn't work any more. Not routinely, at least.

[azvolrien]

My little caveat of 'not routinely' in that last post was necessary because the old lighthouse actually is still in working order; the mechanism to rotate the lens still works just fine. However, it's driven by clockwork rather than any sort of powered motor, and keeping it constantly turning requires someone to wind it every half-hour - those chains running down the middle of the spiral staircase in the last photoset support a weight that slowly descends down the middle to keep the wheels moving - so it's not really practical without someone on duty all the time.

Sound on or off as you see fit. There's no music or anything, it's just the tour guide talking.

[azvolrien]

Environmental storytelling!

Posting a few more photos from my trip up to the northeast, because i didn't just look at Pictish stones the whole time. On the day I saw the Raven Stone at Tyrie Kirk, I also visited the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Fraserburgh. My granny used to live in Aberdeenshire so I went there quite a lot when I was a kid, but I haven't been back in years. It was nice to revisit some of my old haunts.

I asked the guy at the reception desk how often they get people walking into the window before this sign is necessary. He admitted that this is only the latest of many, many attempts to get people to stop doing it.

[tuckerjoenz]

St Augustine Lighthouse. I hear it's quite haunted 

[texturality]

Aires Mateus. Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum. Cascais, Portugal, 2007. Photo by Gustav Szymala ©

[usnationallighthousemuseum-blog]

Help Light the Way to Opening the National Lighthouse Museum In 2010 Lighthouse Preservationists & Maritime historians revived the charter to build the National Lighthouse Museum on Staten Island NY  http://www.indiegogo.com/nlmsiny