National Lighthouse Day

On August 7, 1789, President George Washington signed into law a bill that transferred the management of all existing lighthouses and other navigation aids, including buoys, unlighted beacons, and public piers, to the federal government. It was only the ninth law passed by the US Congress, and America's first public works project.  The Treasury Department was assigned the task of overseeing the nation's lighthouses.

Ocracoke Lighthouse, built 1823

To commemorate the passage of the Lighthouse Act, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill designating August 7, 1989, as National Lighthouse Day. Although that bill only applied to 1989, the US Senate passed a resolution making August 7, 2013, National Lighthouse Day. Again, the legislation only applied to that one year.

Efforts are underway to designate August 7 as a permanent holiday. You can read more here.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a contemporary account of the December 24, 1899 wreck of the Steamship Ariosto. You can read the Newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news072117.htm.