A Lesson on Lighthouses

On Friday the weather in Maine was gorgeous. A nice change from the three weeks or more we had of rain! In an effort to soak up as much of the sun as we can while we have it, we decided to take a trip to Ft. Williams park where the Portland Headlight Lighthouse is located.

Ft. Williams is a public park in Cape Elizabeth Maine, a small but affluent coastal town just south of Portland. Rt. 77 runs from Scarborough to South Portland and is the main route to several coastal state parks in southern Maine. The park features walking trails, abundant fields with picnic tables and grills, the Portland Headlight lighthouse, swings, a small portion of sandy and rocky beach and the remains of Fort Williams. Fort Williams, a military fort built during World War II, provided harbor defense for Portland. The Fort was deactivated in 1963 and was eventually purchased by the Town of Cape Elizabeth. It is now a scenic spot for tourists and locals alike who come to see Maine's oldest lighthouse and tour the historical landmark.

As we walked the park and watched the sail boats and fishing boats of the coast we began to tell Cece about the different things we were seeing. We told her about lighthouses and how they are built to help guide the sailors at night and in storms so that they don't "bump into" the rocks. When I asked her later about lighthouses, this is what she had to say...


She also got to color a lighthouse pictures (which I had to draw freehand because the printer was out of ink). You see that the light is purple (as is most of the picture). When I asked her if the light out to be yellow she simply replied "no. because the light at the park was black". I thought about that for a moment ans realized that the part of the light she could see was the black part that holds the light bulbs. Right. It was daytime after all and not a lot of LIGHT was shining from said LIGHThouse.

 

Here are a few of the pictures we took of our picnic. It was a lovely evening spent and educational too! IT is amazing how much a little 4 year old brain will soak up. This short visit to Ft. Williams is a big reminder about just how much you can share about the world around you with your kids.