History
The area is known as "Two Lights" due to the history of the station. It was originally built in 1828 as two rubble stone towers 300 yards (270 m) apart. Steam-driven warning whistles were installed in the twin towers in 1869, the first used in North America. In 1874, both structures were replaced by conical towers made of cast-iron, each 67 feet (20 m) high and 129 feet (39 m) above sea level. Despite its twin beacons, Cape Elizabeth witnessed many shipwrecks. In January 1885, during a raging snowstorm, keeper Marcus A. Hanna made a daring rescue of two seamen from the schooner Australia, which had run aground on a nearby ledge.
The use of multiple lights in a given site was discontinued in 1924. The western light was removed from service, and eventually sold to a private party in the 1970s. The eastern tower remains in service as "Cape Elizabeth Light."
Read more about this topic: Cape Elizabeth Lights
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“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)