Screwpiles: The Forgotten Lighthouses

the lantern room. I discovered the actual lighting configuration well after I completed the model when, during our book research, we located the original lighthouse specifications. The actual lighthouse exhibited a 360-degree red light by using a red lamp glass, not red lantern room panels. As I completed the lighthouse, I mused about what to do with it. After considering many possibilities, I decided to donate the model to the foundation, Suffolk River Heritage, Inc. I did that during one of our regular meetings, unveiling the model as a surprise for Karla Smith. That was great fun!

She and I talked about the model, the lighthouse history, the James River, and the steamboat era, and we agreed on our next step . . .

“Write a lighthouse book!”

Karla Smith I have always been a visual person, and maps, charts, and vintage photographs and drawings spur my interest. History, geography, and all things related are the bailiwick of my 40-year teaching career. I used cultural journalism and collaborative writing techniques with students to publish books about local history and people. In 2007, our community of Crittenden, Eclipse, and Hobson, Virginia, worked to collect local stories about our village and published The River Binds Us , the first of several local works, using those same techniques. Maps have always created a visual sense of place for the stories in our books. I have had a connection to local waterways since my early teens as a Mariner Girl Scout when I began sailing and canoeing on the Elizabeth River between Norfolk and Portsmouth and Lake Prince in Suffolk, Virginia. I put into practice Kenneth Grahame’s words from The Wind in the Willows : “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. . . .—or with boats. . . . In or out of ’em, it doesn’t matter.” I have sailed a plethora of small boats for over 50 years in local waters, sharing my passion for sailing adventures with friends of all ages. Recent voyages have taken me north to Baltimore and back, often through the night. The lighthouses and buoys were our guide as my shipmates and I used a compass, lead line, and log line along with NOAA charts to navigate. We followed the string of lighthouses from Thimble Shoal to Thomas Point, matching them “dot to dot” on our chart. We verified our location with a handheld GPS but still relied on NOAA charts and the steadfast lighthouses to mark the way, grateful for the blinking beacons in the distance.

Karla Smith on her sailboat on the Chuckatuck Creek

Maps have been crucial to all of my teaching, writing, and playing activities. Drawing maps is part of what I do. I hope the pictorial map-chart for Screwpiles: The Forgotten Lighthouses and its lighthouse illustrations will help set the sense of place for our research and interviews.

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