Extreme Home Makeover
By Sue Clark on Oct 7, 2007 in Lighthouses For Sale 
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Taking a tip from HGTV’s popular televidion show, the Baltimore Sun has a story about making over a decrepit lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay. Smith Point Lighthouse, at the entrance to the Potomac River, was purchased by Dave McNally of Winona, Minnesota, through a GSA auction in 2005 for $170,000. The fifty-two foot tall beacon, sitting in the middle of the river mouth, and built on a concrete/cast iron caisson, was built in 1897. Although the light was originally commissioned in 1802, this is the fourth manifestation, the others destroyed by erosion and storms.
In the story, McNally’s trip that weekend tells of his continuing war with seagulls, and his plans to string fishing line as a deterrent. Having to collect rainwater in a cistern, the presence of these “rats of the sea,” as lobstermen call them, tends to make the purification system work a little harder. There are no sanitary facilities on the light, but one of McNally’s next projects is to install a working toilet, that takes care of the waste ecologically. The lack of such a nasic necessity has prevented his wife from coming along on these trips.
The story goes on to tell about the foghorn, which normally blasts every 15 seconds on those hazy days. But currently the underwater electrical cable is severed, so it’s silent. Otherwise, McNally uses a white noise generator to cover the sound. He does have plans to work with the Coast Guard on purchasing and installing a fog sensor for when the cable is repaired. This still is a working lighthouse, so it is a necessity. Right now, a generator is providing power to the station.
McNally is currently working with a company to install high speed wireless internet access to the top of the tower, which will provide service to residents of Virginia’s North Neck. Plus it will allow him to install a webcam to keep an eye on the property (and possibly the seagulls) from his home in Minnesota.
It’s not been without problems living in a lighthouse. His son was once stung numerous times from head to toe by a jellyfish after he dove into the water from the deck. And McNally himself has been stranded at the light for three days during a fierce storm, with twelve foot waves crashing against the light. And insurance for the place? Forget it, he says. “I can’t get it,” McNally says. The lighthouse is “in the floodplain.”
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have any photos of the light as it looks now, with its bright new white wainscoting installed, or the custom crafted entrance doors made out of Douglas fir and created in Chicago. But one can still get a sense of the pride he takes in his new home, as he stands on the deck grilling steaks and waving to passing boaters.
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