Here is another public domain image of a lighthouse, this one the Peck’s Ledge Lighthouse, sometimes just called Peck Ledge Lighthouse. This photograph comes from just after the lighthouse was completed in 1906. Peck’s Ledge is in Long Island Sound, about two miles from the mouth of Norwalk Harbor in Connecticut. There was a lighthouse keeper living here from 1906 to 1933 when the light was automated. It continues to operate today. Comparing this photo to modern images of the lighthouse, we see that the roof over the first floor balcony has been removed, as well as the pole next to the light (not sure what the heck that was for anyhow…)

This photo was taken by George S North. George was born in Connecticut about 1842, and took up photography in the 1860s, working at first with his brother Frederic in Chatham Connecticut. In the 1870s the brothers parted ways, Frederic opened a studio in Vernon Connecticut, and George worked as a photographer in Norwalk. For more than 50 years George S North was a photographer in Norwalk, the last mention of him we find is in the 1920 census, when he was 78 years old, and still listed as a photographer.