The aim of the program is to preserve the properties, most of which are more than a century old.

The remote lighthouse is precariously perched atop a tall sliver of rock.

On March 3rd, during a large East Coast winter storm, I headed to the ocean to capture some wave action. My travels eventually took me to Great Island Commons in New Castle, New Hampshire, where Whaleback Lighthouse is prominently featured .8 miles offshore. I was hoping to capture big waves crashing around the lighthouse, and Mother Nature didn’t disappoint.

Yet there is more to Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport than these ghostly stories.

You might see a sun pillar - or light pillar - extending upward (or downward) from a bright light source. They're caused by ice crystals drifting in Earth's air.

In the summer of 1867, the American merchant vessel Rover, sailing north from southern China’s Guangdong Province, lost its way during a storm, drifted into waters off the southern coast of Taiwan, struck a reef, and sank.

Ahead of its 300th birthday, we get a special look at the history of America's first lighthouse in Little Brewster Island from its current and first woman keeper.

Want to get away from it all and stay somewhere truly flashy? Ireland has opened up lighthouse cottages for spectacular coastal breaks.

For scenic views and a look at history, plan to see these amazing American lighthouses

One of my favorite childhood films led me halfway across the world to a remote island in Norway and changed my life.

South Stack Lighthouse on Holy Island North Wales

It's also located near the estate that once belonged to an iconic classic film star.

Once a necessary tool to warn mariners of land masses, lighthouses are now seen as iconic emblems of sea-travel and waterways—though many still offer navigation assistance to ships.

Eric Jay Dolin's latest book, "Brilliant Beacons," is a study of American history through its lighthouses and coastlines.

Perched on a spindly rock spire in a Greek archipelago, this lighthouse would make a perfect wizard's tower.

Photo credit/copyright Mark Lindsay Photography, 2016.

For French sailors, hell can be found off the coast of Brittany. Between the French mainland and the Île de Sein is a stretch of water known as the Raz de Sein, infamous for its violent currents. The lighthouses dotting the uninhabited islands along the waterway are difficult to reach and can house at most two lighthouse keepers living in austere conditions... By Jessie Guy-Ryan.

They used to guide ships safely into harbor but the lights are now out at these eerie, abandoned and inactive lighthouses.