Cape Blanco

The lighthouse at Cape Blanco, the most westerly point in the continental United States. The reflection mecanism for light beams was invented by a Frenchman, Augustin Fresnel, in 1822. The reflecting mirrors could magnify thousand of times the light of a very small oil lamp, projecting the beam up to 19 miles off the coast. In Chincoteague in Virginia I climbed up to the top of the local lighthouse. But the Fresnel lamp had been taken down in 1963 to be replaced by an electric one whose beam could go as far as 22 miles. The Fresnel lamp is displayed in a museum nearby. I always was fascinated by lighthouses. In Normandy where I come from, there is a big one on the Cap d'Antifer near Le Havre and I remember as a little boy the beam lightning up my room every 30 seconds at night. It was reassuring and also a little bit scary. Jules Verne has written a book called "Le Seigneur d'Antifer" (The Lord of Antifer) and it is one of his scariest novel.