DockTalk
Q&A with Dave Gendell Cofounder of SpinSheet Publishes New Book: Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse
Why a book about the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse? I first visited the idea back in 2004. At the time the lighthouse was being handed over from the federal government to the City of Annapolis and its partners. I was involved in the handover ceremony and in the process met a number of U.S. Lighthouse Society leaders and other lighthouse aficionados. As I learned more about the history of the screwpile at Thomas Point, it was obvious that someone needed to put together a book about the lighthouse, what went into building it, the men who kept it, and the ongoing preservation efforts. I did a fair amount of research and writing that winter of 2004-05, but we were in start-up mode for PropTalk Magazine, and I became father of twins around the same time, so the lighthouse project was paused before it really began. Fast-forward to summer 2019. I was stuck—really stuck—on a writing project and trying to shake something loose. On a whim I dug out the 2004 Thomas Point research and notes folder from a
dusty virtual corner of my old SpinSheet computer which was still in our basement for some reason: This would be a fun thing to dive back into; there is so much more to learn. After working for so many years on sprawling non-fiction projects, the idea of writing about a single fixed point on the earth over a linear timeline was incredibly appealing. The fact that that point of earth was just a few miles from my desk and that the timeline continued through today and extended into the future was a great source of motivation. How did you do the research? There is so much to learn and this is always a huge source of motivation for me. The research is my favorite part—which is probably why I end up with multiple unfinished, sprawling non-fiction projects on my desktop—there is a genuine openness to learning, almost a compulsion to understand as much as possible. I absolutely love combing old newspapers. Visiting the chilly archives and discovering documents and photos are very
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exciting and energizing for me. For this book I conducted research sessions at the National Archives in College Park, MD, and at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Some amazing lighthouse researchers had gone before me, many associated with the U.S. Lighthouse Society, so their work also helped blaze the path. When I ended up with a specific date or event that was especially interesting, I then turned to the archives of The Baltimore Sun and the Maryland Gazette/Annapolis Evening Capital newspapers which helped frame some context around the events. The last sections of the book are current today, and I was able to get out on the lighthouse and spend real time there, thanks to lighthouse manager John Potvin. Of course, I had to interview the legend Lenny Rudow about fishing at Thomas Point and also got to take a trip out to the shoal to fish with the great Tom Weaver. That first-hand research was so important (and fun).
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