About This Quiz
Beacons of hope in the darkness, lighthouses have guided sailors to safety for thousands of years. They've helped ships navigate dangerous coasts and survive treacherous storms. Test your knowledge of these structures with the lighthouse quiz.In the United States, lighthouse building started on the Atlantic coast and then moved south across the Carolinas to the Gulf Coast region, then to the Great Lakes and finally to the Pacific coast.
The 193-foot (59-meter) Cape Hatteras lighthouse, located on the outer banks of North Carolina, was moved half a mile inland in 1999 to avoid being swallowed by the encroaching Atlantic Ocean.
Trading ventures caused the first lighthouses to spring up in areas with large coastal populations and growing businesses.
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As the 20th century progressed, lighthouses gradually became automated, with remote sensors and automatic timers that replaced lighthouse keepers.
Only one U.S. light station -- Boston Light -- is permanently manned, but others continue to be vital navigational aids along the nation's coasts.
New Jersey's Sandy Hook lighthouse is both the oldest lighthouse and the country's first octagonal lighthouse.
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It was once used to guide weary sailors safely home, but today, the Admiralty Head lighthouse entertains visitors as a museum and tourist attraction.
The Cape Ann lighthouse, north of Boston, is actually made up of two separate lighthouses 300 feet (91 meters) apart.
Henry David Thoreau described the Cape Cod lighthouse as the "first seen by those approaching the entrance of Massachusetts Bay from Europe."
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Located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Vancouver Island, the Cape Flattery lighthouse is the northernmost lighthouse in the lower 48 states.