Weathervane Wednesday ~ An a Historic Lighthouse Far, Far Away!

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I started out by publishing only weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding interesting weather vanes from all over New England.  Sometimes these weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are very unique.  Often, my readers tip me off to some very special and unusual weather vanes.

Today's weather vane is from somewhere in Puerto Rico.

Do you know the location of weather vane #254?  Scroll down to see the answer...

This weathervane was photographed at the Fajardo Lighthouse, located on Las Cabezas de San Juan in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.  The lighthouse was built in 1882 by the Spanish government.  It is now located inside the Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve, and is only available to see by guided tours through the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico for an entrance fee.

During the Spanish-American War in 1898 this lighthouse was an important part of the Battle of Farjardo.  Not only was it a landmark during the naval battle, but some American naval officers and cadets landed and tried to re-occupy the lighthouse.  One of the cadets, William H. Boardman, dropped his revolver on the marble floor inside the lighthouse and was mortally wounded. He was one of the few deaths during the Puerto Rican campaign of this war.

The weather vane atop the lighthouse lantern is an unusual two arrow design.  It is original to the 1882 building, and even appears on the rendering above, which was part of a historical exhibit inside the building.

This lighthouse was surveyed by the Historic American Buildings project which is available through the US Library of Congress.  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/   Here you can see color and vintage photographs, as well as architectural drawings and renderings of the lighthouse.

Friends of the Fajardo Lighthouse website http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1166

The Battle of Fajardo, Wikipedia article   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fajardo


Click here to see the entire series of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ An a Historic Lighthouse Far, Far Away!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 30, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/03/weathervane-wednesday-a-historic.html:  accessed [access date]).