Lighthouses are fascinating. Just ask some of the thousands of tourists who traverse the country each year to visit, photograph and tour them.

It stands to reason that the most passionate lighthouse fans appreciate them for different reasons. The beacons are often historic, with centuries of lore and fables attached to them. Architecturally, they are intriguing for how they’ve been sited and constructed to effectively fulfill their duty while also providing living quarters for their keepers.

Others may find lighthouses intriguing for what they represent—a remote setting, an often solitary life, with only the unpredictable sea as a constant companion.

“People were often appointed to the position of lighthouse keeper,” according to Susan Tamulevich, executive director of the New London Maritime Society, which owns and maintains three distinctive lighthouses right here in southeastern Connecticut. “It was sometimes a reward for veterans who had either been wounded or demonstrated great valor. It was an honorable position, with a lot of responsibility and dedication to the duty.”

NEW LONDON HARBOR LIGHT

Perched on the western bank of the Thames River, where the river meets Long Island Sound, is New London Harbor Light, a statuesque lighthouse that soars to 90 feet and ranks as the nation’s seventh-oldest lighthouse. It’s painted white and free of embellishment—a structure intentionally designed for utility. Before there was a lighthouse there, rocky shoals proved perilous to ships traveling in and out of the harbor.

In 1752, a Spanish ship—the St. Joseph and St. Helena—carrying chests of silver and gold and more than 500 bags of indigo, began taking on water as it attempted to navigate the trip home from the Caribbean. The captain of a passing brigantine ship, the Susannah, offered to help guide the hobbled ship into New London Harbor. It sustained more damage when it crashed into the shoals as it made its way upriver. The ship remained in New London Harbor for three years while it underwent repairs. Today’s equivalent of $3.8 million in treasure was stolen from the ship during its stay, according to historians at ctdigitalarchive.org.

“But what the local merchants and businesspeople in New London became keenly aware of from that point was that they had the best natural port between Boston and New York City, in the ‘bathtub’ that is Long Island Sound,” Tamulevich explained.

The first iteration of New London Harbor Light was built in 1760, to make the harbor more accessible.

In 1801, it was rebuilt and stands tall today as one of the region’s oldest and tallest lighthouses. “It’s a very significant lighthouse that has been publicly owned and maintained for most of its history,” Tamulevich said. Cross-sound ferries still use New London Harbor Light as a beacon to guide them into port.

LEDGE LIGHT

Ledge Light made its debut in 1909 at the mouth of the Thames River, smack-dab between the shores of New London to the west and Groton to the east. Two local construction companies were enlisted to build the structure for roughly $93,000. The original French-designed Fresnel lens served as the beacon, alerting ships with flashes of white and red light. Every lighthouse has its own distinctive “characteristic” and “period”—the pattern and color of light and the length of its repeating interval. The design of the Fresnel lens allowed for light to project as far as 28 miles away.

In 1911, a fog signal was added. It had the good fortune of surviving the 1938 hurricane that devastated much of the southeastern Connecticut coastline.

Ghosthunters are eternally fascinated with historic lighthouses, and Ledge Light has itself been the subject of TV shows like Most Haunted, Channel 3 Eyewitness News’ Haunted Connecticut and Ghost Hunters.

In truth, Ledge Light is hardly terrifying. Unlike conical-shaped lighthouses, its boxy architectural design, capped with a mansard roof, allowed for living quarters that rivaled a home on land, and Tamulevich said it was likely that two families lived there quite comfortably. William Ivan Clark was Ledge’s last keeper, from 1954 to 1959. The U.S. Coast Guard used it as a navigational station up until 1987, when it was automated.

RACE ROCK LIGHTHOUSE

At the entrance to Long Island Sound sits Race Rock Lighthouse. Imposing in its Gothic Revival architectural style, the 1.5-story dwelling made of granite sits on a deep foundation built atop Race Rock Reef, about eight miles off the coast of New London in treacherous waters.

The lighthouse was designed by Francis Hopkinson Smith, a Renaissance man of sorts—an engineer, author and artist from Baltimore, Md., who also built the Statue of Liberty’s foundation. His design for Race Rock was constructed by Capt. T.A. Scott over the course of seven years, from 1871 to 1878, with a rotunda-like stone foundation, accommodations for the keeper, and a tower that soars to 67 feet above the water line.

In 2005, Race Rock Lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Thanks to the efforts to preserve them, the three lighthouses are fully functional today and available for public tours (hosted by the Maritime Society and limited by group size, time of year and weather).

“These are such important landmarks,” Tamulevich said. “Even though we say that the Maritime Society owns them, we don’t think of it as owning them. We’re stewards for them, working on behalf of the local community and the whole country.”

Maintaining a lighthouse, which is subjected to the harsh elements of sea spray and salt air, can be an expensive endeavor, but fortunately, all three of these lighthouses are in exceptional condition, and when repairs become necessary, the community turns out to help.

When Harbor Light required significant work, Tamulevich held a press conference. Two news outlets covered it—The Day and a local Patch reporter—and within 24 hours, the society fielded calls from local trade unions and suppliers who donated their time, expertise and materials, even the scaffolding, to the project, she recalled.

“When people see these iconic, evocative, historic landmarks, they’re intrigued by the history,” Tamulevich said. “New London is a city that loves history and loves its connection to the water.”