Connie Small , “ First Lady of Light ,” was born in Lubec and spent much of her life living in lighthouses in Maine , including at West Quoddy Head , where her father was a keeper at the Quoddy Head Lifesaving Station . Connie led the nation ’ s lighthouse preservation movement , and later wrote “ The Lighthouse Keeper ’ s Wife ,” which describes her life as a lighthouse-keeper and exemplifies the lives of the many women who served the nation through this solitary and dangerous work .
Eastern Oblique Arc - The Eastern Oblique Arc was an extended effort undertaken by the Coast and Geodetic Survey ( formerly the Coast Survey ) in the 19th century for high precision triangulation of the east coast of the United States . The Arc enabled calculation of the first precise measurement of the shape of the earth in North America . Image source : forums . groundspeak . com .
Longitude , Meridien , and Greenwich Meantime
A critical element of maritime navigation is accurate calculation of a location ’ s longitude . The United States established the United States Coast Survey in the 1830s to produce a consistent set of nautical charts for the nation ’ s coastline . Survey work extended outward from a prime reference point at Harvard College Observatory . Telegraphy enabled simultaneous exchange of time signals between distant locations to determine the difference in time between observed passage of an object in the sky at different locations . With sufficiently accurate timepieces , longitude could be determined with significant precision .
The Calais Observatory is a pair of granite stones erected in 1857 in what now Meridian Park near the Canadian border in Calais . Scientific equipment used in astronomical observations were mounted to the stone , principally for accurate calculation of Calais ’ s longitude related to meridians in Cambridge , Massachusetts ; Frederickton , New Brunswick , Canada ; and Greenwich , England .
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