Cape Pogue Light
On one of the coldest days of the season so far, 12/22/08, I rode out to Cape Pogue Light with Paul Shultz. Paul works for the Trustees of Reservations, the overseers of all of Chappy's beaches. In my lifetime of living in Edgartown, I had never been to Cape Pogue Light. It was an enjoyable morning, riding the four miles along the edge of Cape Pogue Pond, chugging over the sand in the Trustees' 4-wheel-drive truck out to the lighthouse, taking in the rugged beauty of this deserted stretch of Chappaquiddick shoreline and listening to Paul's stories. Paul is the salt of the earth and loves this rugged outback, speaks even of wanting to live out here (this desolate land, albeit stunningly beautiful, would not be for me, thank you!). Paul knows every bump in the road, every house along the way - the few that we encountered - as well as the names, occupations and various details of every homeowner.
Paul was also eager to show me Chappy's resident snowy owl; eager as well, perhaps, to demonstrate his intimate knowledge of the owl's habits. He did find the bird, farther out on the arm of Cape Pogue, as he had expected, near what was once Phil Norton's camp. I tried to get a shot of the elusive white bird, but did not have my SLR with the long lens with me, and the owl was not in the mood for up-close encounters.
This was as fine an adventure as one could have on a sunny second day of winter on Martha's Vineyard.
Read MorePaul was also eager to show me Chappy's resident snowy owl; eager as well, perhaps, to demonstrate his intimate knowledge of the owl's habits. He did find the bird, farther out on the arm of Cape Pogue, as he had expected, near what was once Phil Norton's camp. I tried to get a shot of the elusive white bird, but did not have my SLR with the long lens with me, and the owl was not in the mood for up-close encounters.
This was as fine an adventure as one could have on a sunny second day of winter on Martha's Vineyard.
The illumination for this lighthouse is, surprisingly, a tiny bulb, along the lines of a 40w high-intensity bulb. The multi-prismed Fresnel lens takes the light of that tiny bulb and refracts and intensifies it, sending it far across Nantucket Sound, providing a powerful beacon of safety and protection for this busy waterway.
Reminiscent of the Fibonacci formula, the mathematics that pertain to the steps in the spiral on the inside of a shell, as well as found in other places in nature; flower petals, also in the spiral pattern of the sunflower seed head.
Snowy
