Also known as "guiding lights," some of America's lighthouses are beloved and preserved, while others are being lost to neglect and the ravages of the sea. (All photos by Carol M. Highsmith)
America's 'Guiding Lights' Face Uncertain Times
Rose Island Lighthouse in Rhode Island.
This lighthouse on Cape Hatteras in North Carolina is one of America's most-photographed.
The Edgartown Light Station, on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, was built in 1881.
Hillsboro Inlet Light, located between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, Florida, marks the northern limit of the Florida Reef, an underwater coral formation on the lower east coast of the state.
Ocracoke Light, the oldest operating light station in North Carolina, was built in Hyde County, on Ocracoke Island in 1823.
The Point Iroquois Light Station is on Lake Superior, on the Upper Michigan Peninsula.
Before the installation of lighthouses on the Pacific coast, many ships and seamen went to their graves on its rocky shoals. In 1926, operation of the brightest beacon in Southern California, the Point Vicente Lighthouse, began.
Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, in Florida, was completed in 1887.
Portland Head Light in Portland, Maine.
St. Mark's Light in the Apalachee Bay, on Florida's panhandle.
Windpoint Lighthouse in Racine, Wisconsin. With $100,000 appropriated by Congress for construction, work at Wind Point was completed in 1880.
Rose Island Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island at dusk.