For all the posts in the Beacons of Fire Series, go here.
Prologue: I love Nora Roberts books, well her books mostly those that she wrote prior to 2009. One of her book is the 1985 romantic novel, One Man’s Art, fourth in her longest series, The McGregor Series. The hero of the story, Grant Campbell, is a loner, rude, surly and impossible, who lives in an old lighthouse. Genevieve Grandeau literally lands on his doorstep during one particular stormy night. The story that follows between Grant and Gennie is what inspired me to look at lighthouses in a different light.
Inspired by this book by Nora Roberts, here I present you my Beacons of Fire Series. Next is the Lynde Point Lighthouse in Old Saybrook, CT
In the month of October, Connecticut River Museum in Essex, CT had this river cruise that would take us from Essex to Old Saybrook, where we could see two of the lighthouses from the Connecticut River instead of Land. I took the opportunity to go on it, and what a treat it was.
Lynde Point Lighthouse stands at the junction where Connecticut River meets the Long Island Sound. It is also known as Saybrook Inner Light.
Originally it was a 35 foot tall wooden tower with seven lamps backed by nine-inch reflectors built in 1803. This was replaced by a 65 foot octagonal brownstone tower in 1838 which is what we see still standing. Over the years modernization to the lights of the lighthouse has been done and also the internal infrastructure, however the outside remains the same as in 1838.
The tour guide of the river cruise showed us various sights along the way. Since this will be a two part post, I will split the sights that I saw along the way into two parts as well. The first part will be the sights I saw while we were going towards the Lynde Point Lighthouse.
I begin with the hunting club house that we see in Billy Joel’s 1993 twelfth studio album song River of Dreams. I have heard this so many times, but never realized that it was pictured mostly on Connecticut River between Essex and Old Saybrook including the draw bridge where the band stands. And here is the hunting club.
In case, you want a refresher here is the original song video as well.
The Knott Island area to one side housed an Eagle couple. They had given birth to two chicks in 2020, and 3 each in 2021 and 2022. According to the tour guide that is a lot for one couple. Here is a pair sitting on the trees and I couldn’t reach them any closer than this.
Interestingly enough, the river water is brownish due to silt. Put the water in a jar and let it settle and in 24 hrs you get clear water on top once the silt settles. Don’t know if you can see the brownish tinge in this capture of mine.
We saw a tremendous amount of Vultures all through the cruise. The tour guide mentioned that the numbers increased since the interstate has been put in and the increased road kills because of the traffic. The Turkey Vulture has silver lining under the wings and has a red beak. While the Black Vulture is regular one.
The sun was full but covered with a thin veil of clouds almost gave the feeling of waves of the water below.
We got to see the drawbridge work its magic and give us safe passage to the enter Old Saybrook.
Closing the post with a view of both the light houses in one shot, you can see Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse in the distant left.
Galavant Reflections 