In the United States, the earliest attempts to build wave-swept
lighthouses in the 1830s led to several masterpieces of engineering, a
few of which are in the New England region. This collection of mailable
vintage-photograph postcards focuses on Whaleback (Maine), Saddleback
Ledge (Maine), Minot's Ledge (Massachusetts), Halfway Rock (Maine),
Graves Ledge (Massachusetts), and Ram Island Ledge (Maine). All of these
wave-swept lighthouses stand in rugged testimony to the people who
designed and built them, and they also serve to remind us of the
struggles and sacrifices of the lighthouse keepers who kept a good light
for so many years before automation.