On August 7, 1789 The U.S. Congress approved an act for “the establishment and support of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers.” Then, the first federal lighthouse was constructed at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.

“Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time.” ~E.P. Whipple.

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.” ~Dwight L. Moody.

“A good book is a lighthouse; a wise man is a lighthouse; conscience is a lighthouse; compassion is a lighthouse; science is a lighthouse! They all show us the true path! Keep them in your life to remain safe in the rocky and dark waters of life!” ~Mehmet Murat ildan.

A handful of picture books set in lighthouses:
The Lighthouse, the Cat and the Sea by Leigh W. Rutledge. Reviewed at Puss Reboots.
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Ariel North Olson.
The Lighthouse Cat by Sue Stainton.
Who Sees the Lighthouse? by Sue Fearrington.
Abbie Against the Storm: The True Story of a Young Heroine and a Lighthouse by Marcia K. Vaughan.
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter Roop.
Lighthouse Seeds by Pamela Love.
The Storm by Cynthia Rylant.
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift and Lynd Ward.

Other related books and fun facts:
The Lighthouse Mystery is number eight in The Boxcar Children mysteries.

There’s a book in the For Kids series called Lighthouses for Kids: History, Science, and Lore with 21 Activities by Katherine L. House. One could easily put together a unit study on lighthouses using this book and others on this list.

Who’s read To the Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf? Does it have anything to do with an actual lighthouse?

The Bolivar Point lighthouse survived the Great Hurricane of 1900 which devastated nearby Galveston, Texas.