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Overview
Sending their beams over the coastal waters to guide mariners into harbor, lighthouses form part of the romance of America's past. Here, available again, is the comprehensive story of the lighthouses and lightships of Texas, first told in 1991 by historian T. Lindsay Baker and illustrated with watercolors by noted artist Harold Phenix.After introducing readers to lighthouses and their keepers, Baker provides chapters detailing the surviving Texas lighthouses. These include lights at Brazos Santiago, Point Isabel, Aransas Pass, Matagorda, Halfmoon Reef, Brazos River, Galveston Jetty, Galveston, Bolivar Point, Heald Bank, Sabine Pass, and Sabine Bank.
The story of the lighthouses is one with a human face. Readers will meet engineers, inspectors, and the men and women who served as lighthouse keepers on the remote Texas beaches.
In a concluding chapter, Baker chronicles the fate of the lights in the mid-twentieth century. A new preface updates the condition of the various lighthouses at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Synopsis
Sending their beams over the coastal waters to guide mariners into harbor, lighthouses form part of the romance of America's past. Here, available again, is the comprehensive story of the lighthouses and lightships of Texas, first told in 1991 by historian T. Lindsay Baker and illustrated with watercolors by noted artist Harold Phenix.
After introducing readers to lighthouses and their keepers in his first chapter, Baker provides ten more chapters, each one detailing a surviving Texas lighthouse and its construction, navigational service, and historical role. These include lights at Brazos Santiago, Point Isabel, Aransas Pass, Matagorda, Halfmoon Reef, Brazos River, Galveston Jetty, Galveston, Bolivar Point, Heald Bank, Sabine Pass, and Sabine Bank.
The story of the lighthouses is one with a human face. Readers will meet the engineers who built the lights and the inspectors who ensured their efficacy. Men and occasionally women—usually alone, sometimes accompanied by family or a crew—served as lighthouse keepers on the remote Texas beaches.
In a concluding chapter, Baker chronicles the fate of the lights in the mid-twentieth century. A new preface updates the condition of the various lighthouses at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
About the Authors:
T. Lindsay Baker, award-winning author of many books, is director of the Texas Heritage Museum at Hill Country College in Hillsboro, Texas.
Harold Phenix makes his home in Hunt, Texas, and continues to paint.