Music video by Owl City sparks interest in Ohio's Marblehead Lighthouse
- Details
- Category: Great Lakes
- Published on Sunday, 01 May 2011 09:27
- Written by Fyddeye Administrator
- Hits: 1051
Editor's Note: The author is a student at Denny International Middle School in Seattle, and she's the editor's daughter.
The Marblehead Lighthouse is located in the Marblehead Peninsula in the state of Ohio. I got interested in the lighthouse because it’s featured in a music video, “Vanilla Twilight,” by Owl City, which is one of my personal favorite songs. I think the lighthouse is used in the video to mean a place where people can find their true love.
Five thousand dollars was set aside to build the lighthouse by Ohio legislature in 1819 and the lighthouse was constructed the following year. Contractor William Kelly built the 50-foot tower of limestone on the tip of the Marblehead Peninsula in 1820. The lighthouse was built to prevent boats from crashing into Lake Erie’s shoreline and the clusters of small islands offshore during storms.
Can't see the video? Watch here.
{qtube vid:=pIz2K3ArrWk}
There were 15 lighthouse keepers throughout its history and two of them were women. The first lighthouse keeper was Benajah Wolcott. His house, which is right next to the lighthouse, is the oldest known residence still standing in Ottawa County. Wolcott had served for ten years at the lighthouse before he died in 1832.
After his death, his wife Rachel took over, making her the first female lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes. In 1943, Marblehead’s incandescent oil vapor was replaced with an electric light.
In 1946, after the last civilian keeper resigned, the Coast Guard assumed responsibility for the beacon. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has maintained the lighthouse since 1972 and accepted ownership of the tower in May 1998. The Coast Guard continues to operate and maintain the light itself.
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