Scrolls of Light

Fresnel lenses are like scroll of light. Much in the way of lighthouse history has passed through their polished prisms. A close-up view of the third order Fresnel lens in West Quoddy Head Lighthouse when it was still outfitted with 1000-watt lamps. Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.

Be they polished prisms or precision acrylic, lighthouse lenses do not simply magnify light, they are scrolls of light as well. History passes through these masterstrokes, the antsy present peers into them with a sense of wonder and the night impending prepares to hide from their shining countenance – all be it futile.

So go ahead! Look inside the legacy lenses that still serve the mariner today. Lenses with a realm that embrace the time gap of tradition. Be drawn into the light and the bygone that yet lives. Nearer to the sea you will feel, closer to cherished lighthouse epochs you will come when the imagination is set free.

Modern legacy optics like the incandescent VRB-25 rotating beacon, with their precision acrylic lenses, offer up their own fascination to the lure of lighthouses. A close-up view of the VRB-25 in Cape Elizabeth Light. Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.

Views inside the lenses of legend will not be focus clear – they are not meant to be. For nothing as inscrutable as a lighthouse lens can ever truly be seen for what it is. Why? I believe it is because light is the meeting place of the mind, heart and spirit. Light’s enduring affinity for showing the way is intended to be elusive, for compassion is not to be gathered, only given. Freely.

And though not all of our lighthouse queries will be answered with each glance into a lens with time transposed, considerable insight will be attained nonetheless. Experience teaches that knowledge and understanding are not the same. Here is where the mysterious span between mind and heart is bridged at a lighthouse.

Can we go back in time to another place where grand lighthouse stories once were forged? I believe so, but only in ways not grasped by our material surroundings. Gazing inside a lens of yore reveals much within a world of sagas melded evermore. No portraits or words are essential. Simply to feel such history and goodness proves sufficient. My heart is thus contented.

The eye of the mariner shows the way and reveals mysteries of what it has seen over time. A view of the one-time DCB-224 rotatng aerobeacon that graced the lantern of Portland Head Light up until 2020. Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.

Look inside the legacy lenses that still serve the mariner today. Lenses with a realm that embrace the time gap of tradition. Be drawn into the light and the bygone that yet lives within. A close-up view of the fourth order Fresnel lens inside Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, which is outfitted with a cutting-edge Sealite LED optic. Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.

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