Saturday, November 29, 2014

Barnegat lighthouse

Lighthouses are pretty.
They are often in some of the most beautiful settings with wide seas and wider skies.

The era of lighthouses has passed into history, though.  Modern navigation systems can "see in the dark" and find their way unaided by lighthouses.

The Barnegat Lighthouse hasn't been a working lighthouse since 1927, but the people of Long Beach Island still make sure the light turns on.
It's been there since 1856 and a hundred years later, it was turned into a park area.

Maybe ships no longer need lighthouses, but people do.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Liberty bell

There it is.
Still cracked.
I recently learned that the Liberty Bell didn't actually ring when the constitution was done being written in 1787.
The Bell Tower of the then Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, was considered too rickety and in danger of collapsing if it were rung.
So though the city's bells rung out on that day, the famous Liberty Bell was silent.