Lighthouse Trivia

Since I missed posting for several weeks, I feel I owe everyone a few extra posts. Today, I will test your knowledge of lighthouses with a little trivia. Most lighthouse enthusiasts will find this quiz to be fairly easy, but let's give it a try. Answers follow at the end of this post, so don't peek.

1. Who personally selected the site for the lighthouse at Montauk Point on Long Island?
2. Which state has more lighthouses than any other in the United States?
3. What object served as the first fog signal installed on a United States lighthouse at Little Brewsters Island?
4. What was the first Pacific coast lighthouse in the United States?
5. What is the oldest active lighthouse in America?
6. What is the newest lighthouse in the United States?
7. In 1929, the lighthouse in Vermilion, Ohio was dismantled and unbeknownst to the town's residents, rebuilt where?
8. What was the name given to lighthouse keepers in the days before electricity?
9. Who created the Argand Lamp system, a predecessor to the Fresnel Lens?
10. What was the first U.S. Lighthouse to use electricity?


1. George Washington while he was serving as Commander of the Continental Army thought the location of Montauk Point would make a good site for a lighthouse. As President, he signed the legislation establishing the Montauk Point Lighthouse.
2. Michigan
3. A cannon was installed as a fog signal in 1719.
4. Alcatraz Light in 1854
5. Sandy Hook, NJ was lit for the first time in 1764.
6. Sullivan's Island Lighthouse in Charleston, SC was completed in 1962.
7. The entrance to the St. Lawrence River seaway in New York. The lighthouse is now known as the East Charity Shoals Light.
8. Wickies
9. Aime Argand, a Swiss physicist
10. The Statue of Liberty