Customer Reviews

Guarding New Jersey's Shore: Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations (NJ) (Images of America)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is a forgotten Federal Agency. Its peak years were from 1878 to 1915. It was the United State Life Saving Service. Lifesavers were popular folk heroes, storm warriors. It was started in New Jersey in 1848. The New Jersey shore had more wrecks than the Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras. New Jersey is the graveyard of the Atlantic, not the Outer Banks. The book details the life saving service, light houses, light ships. There was a Light House Board in the United States Treasury Department until it merged with the Coast Guard. In 1889 the Life Saving Service became uniformed because of complaints. Lifesavers were generally recruited from local fishermen who knew surf and sea conditions. Numerous life saving stations are shown. The book exists for its pictures, which are plentiful. Basically it is a picture book. Detailed explanations are given. The plan of the book is simple and forthright. We had occasion to use the book just this morning to plan an outing to see a restored stucture. Indeed, there it was, pictured, in this highly useful book.

A very nice book that blends lots of history and a little technology into the annotations of literally hundreds of photos. The book covers lighthouses, lightships, harbor lights, coastal lights as well as a facinating description of the US Life-Saving Service which, along with the Revenue Cutter Service, later became the US Coast Guard. The only reason that I did not give a rating of 5 was because I feel that there should be maps that show where the various lights were/are.

This small book on lighthouses is just chock full of fascinating information and wonderful historic photographs. If you have any interest at all in lighthouses, you should really love it. I recommend it enthusiastically! This is a special book.