Beacons

"Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising up above the slates, like brick islands in a lead-coloured sea." "The board-schools." "Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wise, better England of the future."

If you were a sailor before the invention of modern navigational equipment, lighthouses were treasured beacons for wandering seafarers. They once dotted U.S. coastlines. But with advances in navigation equipment, lighthouses have become obsolete and many are no longer used for navigational purposes by major shipping traffic. Many lighthouses are threatened by changes in geography due to erosion and natural disasters, are vandalized, or are in desperate need of repair.