Lighthouses are towers built near coastlines or waterways that use lamps and lenses to emit light as a navigational aid. They mark dangerous areas for ships and guide them to safe harbors. Some notable historic lighthouses mentioned include Portland Head Light in Maine, Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia, and Boston Light, the first lighthouse built in the United States. Families like the Stevensons made significant contributions to lighthouse design and construction.

2. a tower, building, or other type of structure designed
to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and
used as a navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea
or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines,
hazardous shoals, reefs, safe entries to harbors, and
can also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely
used, the number of operational lighthouses has
declined due to the expense of maintenance and
replacement by modern electronic navigational
systems.

3. Before the development of clearly
defined ports mariners were guided by fires built
on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the
visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a
practice that led to the development of the
lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned
more as an entrance marker to ports than as a
warning signal for reefs and promontories, unlike
many modern lighthouses. The most famous
lighthouse structure from antiquity was
the Pharos of Alexandria, although it collapsed
during an earthquake centuries later.

4. John Smeaton
-have designed the third and most
famous Eddystone Lighthouse but some
builders are well known for their work in
building multiple lighthouses.
The Stevenson family
(Robert, Alan, David, Thomas, David Alan,
and Charles) - made lighthouse building a
three generation profession in Scotland.

6. The St. Augustine Light is an
active lighthouse in St.
Augustine, Florida. The
current lighthouse stands at
the north end of Anastasia
Island and was built in 1874; it
is the most recent of a number
of towers built in the area.

7. The Cape Henry
Lighthouse has long been
important for the large
amount of ocean-going
shipping traffic for the
harbors, its rivers, and
shipping headed to ports
on the Chesapeake Bay.

8. Boston Light is a
lighthouse located on Little
Brewster Island in outer
Boston Harbor,
Massachusetts. The first
lighthouse to be built on
the site dates back to
1716, and was the first
lighthouse to be built in
what is now the United
States.

9. Portland Head Light is a
historic lighthouse in
Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
The light station sits on a
head of land at the
entrance of the primary
shipping channel into
Portland Harbor, which is
within Casco Bay in the
Gulf of Maine.

10. The Portland Breakwater
Light is a small lighthouse
in South Portland, Maine.
The lighthouse's flashing
red beacon helped guide
ships from Casco Bay
through the entrance to
Portland Harbor.

12. Cordouan lighthouse is an active
lighthouse located 7 km at sea, near
the mouth of the Gironde estuary in
France. At a height of 223 feet it is
the tenth tallest "traditional
lighthouse" in the world.

13. Vinga Lighthouse, is a
Swedish lighthouse on
Vinga island built in 1890.
But Vinga has been an
important island for sea
travelers for a long time.
The lighthouse in use
now is the third one on
the island.

14. The Needles Lighthouse
was built by Trinity House
in 1859 on the outermost of
the chalk rocks near sea
level. Designed by James
Walker, it cost £20,000.

15. Esha Ness Lighthouse is
situated on the
Northmavine peninsula in
the north-west of the
Shetland Islands,
Scotland. It sometimes
rendered as Eshaness
Lighthouse.

16. Sumburgh Head Lighthouse
is a lighthouse on Sumburgh
Head at the southern tip of
the Mainland of Shetland.
The lighthouse was built by
Robert Stevenson in 1821.

18. The Green Point
Lighthouse, Cape Town is
an operational lighthouse
on the South African
coast, first lit on 12 April
1824.

19. The Cape Agulhas
Lighthouse is situated at
Cape Agulhas, the
southernmost tip of
Africa. It was the third
lighthouse to be built in
South Africa, and the
second-oldest still
operating, after Green
Point.

20. The Milnerton Lighthouse,
commissioned on 1960-03-
10, is located on Table Bay
shore in Milnerton, South
Africa. It's red sector
covers Robben Island.

21. he Lighthouse of
Alexandria, sometimes
called the Pharos of
Alexandria, was a lofty
tower built by the
Ptolemaic Kingdom
between 280 and 247
BC and between 393
and 450 ft tall.

22. The Lighthouse of Port
Said is one of the most
important architectural and
tourist landmarks in the
city of Port Said in Egypt.

24. Punta Tuna Light is a
historic lighthouse
located in the southeast
of the town of Maunabo,
Puerto Rico on a sharp
promontory at the
southeastern most point
of the island. It was first
lit in 1892 and
automated in 1989.

25. Cape San Juan Light is a
historic lighthouse located
on the northeastern part of
the highest point of Cape
San Juan in Fajardo, Puerto
Rico. The lighthouse was
constructed in 1880 and
was officially lit on May 2,
1882.

26. Mona Island Light, also
known as Faro de la Isla de
la Mona, is a historic
lighthouse located on the
island of Mona, Puerto
Rico, in the Mona Passage
between Puerto Rico and
the Dominican Republic.

27. Puerto Ferro Light, also
known as Faro de
Puerto Ferro, is a
historic lighthouse
located in the Vieques,
Puerto Rico. The light
was first lit in 1896. It is
one of the last minor or
local lights to be built by
the Spanish
government.

28. Caja de Muertos Light, is
an 1887 lighthouse in
Ponce, Puerto Rico, that
is unique amongst all
other lighthouses in
Puerto Rico for its
unusual Cross of
Lorraine, double-arm, T-type
shape structure.