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Brenda Bower is from Waynesville, PA.
My favorite lighthouse is Hooper Strait Lighthouse at Chesapeake Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. This is the only lighthouse I have ever been to. I plan to go to more and return to this one many more times.
The lighthouse was built in 1879. It is known as a screwpile, cottage-style lighthouse. Hooper Strait resembles a small home that was built on special iron piling that was literally screwed into the Bay’s soft bottom. This lighthouse is no longer a working lighthouse. In 1966 the Coast Guard, after 75 years of operation, wanted to demolish it. Instead the Museum purchased the building and moved it to its present site today. Too large to be moved in one piece, it was cut into two pieces. The lighthouse was restored and open to the public in 1967. The rooms are just like they were when the lighthouse was in operation. It has plaques on the walls telling about each room and the move of the lighthouse.
Also one of the main reasons this is my favorite lighthouse is on February 9, 2001, my husband and I were married at the TOP of the lighthouse. I have a very deep love for lighthouses in general. I collect all kinds, shapes and sizes. Lighthouses, to me, represent PEACE. Like the trials we go through in our lives, we just have to keep looking for the light (which is also Jesus to me) for safety and peace. Just like the sailors did many years ago and still do.
When I contacted the Museum about getting married there, they were very nice about it. They said if the weather was bad I could get married inside the lighthouse. If the weather was nice I could get married on TOP of the lighthouse. On February 9, 2002, it was a beautiful 68°, beautiful blue skies, so we exchanged our wedding vows on TOP (3rd story) of Hooper Strait Lighthouse. We live 2 1/2 hours away. My pastor, Rev. W. Besecker came to perform the ceremony. He even included my love for lighthouses in the ceremony. My two children, Joey (15) and Brooke (13), attended along with my best friend, her husband and my husband’s best friend and his wife were there. It was so beautiful and romantic on top - overlooking the bay. And most of all “Marrying my love of a lifetime” Clarence “Butch” Bower Jr. How special it was to have my two special loves there with me - the lighthouse and my new husband.
No one that was there will ever forget my wedding. I know I never will. When someone asks me “Where did you get married at?” I smile and say “On top of Hooper Strait Lighthouse. Let me tell you about it.” They say “How romantic!” Yes, this is what this lighthouse is to me.
This story appeared in the January 2002 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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