Tonight's picture was taken in April 2008, during Mattie's sixth birthday. We held Mattie's birthday in a bowling alley that year. Despite bowling, the theme of the party was Scooby Doo. Mattie was in love with Scooby and therefore we picked out a special cake together. For years Mattie kept all the Scooby Doo toys that came as decorations on top of his cake. However, toward the end of Mattie's party, he was dragging and developed a raging fever. Sometimes I look back at that moment and wonder if that was a sign of cancer? But nothing else was abnormal about how he was feeling and the fever eventually went away. However, three months later Mattie was diagnosed with cancer.
Quote of the day: Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve. ~ Earl Grollman
I happen to LOVE lighthouses! So today we ventured to Jupiter Lighthouse to see the US Coast Guard Station and tour the lighthouse. The property that the lighthouse sits on is filled with history. As it served as a naval command post and also a top secret radio detection station during WWII.
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History of the Lighthouse
The lighthouse was designed by Lieutenant George G. Meade of
the Bureau of Topographical Engineers. Meade's design was subsequently modified
by Lieutenant William Raynolds. The lighthouse was completed under the
supervision of Captain Edward A. Yorke in 1860 at a cost of more than $60,000.
The lighthouse was built on a hill once thought to be an
Indian shell mound or midden (and sometimes falsely rumored to be a burial
mound), but which is now determined to be a natural parabolic sand dune. The
top of the 105-foot tower is 153 feet above sea level. The light can be seen 24
nautical miles at sea. The lighthouse structure is brick with double masonry
walls.
The point of land which sits at the junction of the Indian
River and Jupiter Inlet for thousands of years had been a meeting place for
ancient Indian tribes. This strategic site did not go unnoticed by US Army
surveyors who in 1849 recommended the Jupiter Inlet area as a suitable place
for military defenses. President Franklin Pierce signed the order to set aside
a 61½-acre site on the Fort Jupiter Reservation for a lighthouse in 1854.
The US Navy acquired 8.4 acres of the Reservation from the
US Government and by 1936 the Navy was operating a Radio Compass Station at
Jupiter as an aid to navigation. The station broadcast weather information and
monitored distress signals as well as naval ship-to-shore and aircraft
frequencies. On July 1, 1939 all US lighthouses became the responsibility of
the US Coast Guard. In the same year, the US Navy established an Intelligence
Listening Post at the Naval Radio Station and constructed the barracks building
for naval personnel and their families.
By July 1940, the Navy's Radio Detection Finding Station,
known as "Station J", came online. This secret installation was
designed to intercept German U-boat radio messages and warn Allied ships and
help US forces attack enemy vessels. Station J was able to pinpoint the names
and locations of the submarines. In May 1943, 30 German submarines were
destroyed, and in June another 37. Most had been located by the men of Station
J.
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