It once was beautiful, the S.S. Point Reyes, even as it slowly rotted on the banks of Tomales Bay. But now, its hull is shattered; its innards, rusty and charred. Moss clings to its damp wooden planks, and graffiti mars its chipped paint. It lists precariously toward its starboard side.
Neither the theft of four casks of whale oil nor the bombardment by a patriot raiding party during the Revolutionary War were able to permanently darken the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, a stout, eight-sided structure that continues to warn vessels off the shoals of Raritan Bay.
In northern California, a community has banded together to protect the stars from light pollution. But in the age of satellites and space junk, what does it mean to preserve a night sky when anyone can alter it?