Lighthouses Get Funding For Projects
By Sue Clark on Dec 28, 2007 in Restoration 
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Good News For Two Lighthouses
Some lighthouse groups got some good news at year end for restoration efforts, unlike Bodie Island which lost its funding. At least two lighthouses were awarded grants for their restoration efforts.
Hereford Island Lighthouse
Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, New Jersey, an absolutely gorgeous lightstation located on Central Avenue in North Wildwood, will be funded for its final phase of restoration in 2008. This formerly inactive light, boarded up for 18 years, will receive a $330,000 federal transportation grant to repair the interior walls and install a new fire protection system and air conditioning. This will complete the restoration of this light, and everything from now on will be maintenance only.
The lighthouse was relocated 150 feet from its original site in 1914, and was deactivated by the Coast Guard in 1964. Local restoration efforts won an award from the New Jersey Historical Commission in 2005. Surrounded by beautiful gardens, it is now a museum. Future plans include possibly acquiring a state police post and creating an entire maritime village. This historically accurate lighthouse is the only one of its style on the east coast, although several similar in design exist in California.
The light became a private aid to navigation when it was relit in 1986 by the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Commission, and the original Fourth Order Fresnel lens is displayed at the museum.
Toledo Harbor Lighthouse
Although not nearly as accessible (it’s 8 miles out from land), the Toledo (Ohio) Harbor Lighthouse received some much needed funding to initiate a study on preserving the exterior of this exposed lighthouse. Sitting on a crib of rocks guarding the entrance to Toledo Harbor, the Toledo Lighthouse Preservation Society received $14,900 from the the Ohio Lake Erie Commission, the state’s policy board for the lake.
The project will included a detailed assessment of the building’s condition, including structural, mechanical, electrical, and fire protection systems. It had previously received funding for installation of a boat dock and a recent $24,000 grant from the Ohio Coastal Management Program for restoration work on the lighthouse.
Toledo Harbor Light is a unique architectural beauty built in 1904, with the integral keeper’s house designed in a Romanesque style, and ownership by the Preservation Society is on the (not) fast track for approval under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The lighthouse was automated in 1966, and is the only lighthosuse known to have had a fake lightkeeper (a mannequin) put in the window to prevent vandalism. Kind of like the dummy cop cars placed at certain locations to deter speeders. The Coast Guard originally had it as a man with a pencil thin mustache, but someone later changed it to a keeper with a long blonde wig. It is probably the source of tales of the lighthouse resident ghost.
Photo Credits:
- Hereford Inlet Lighthouse by Talaba on Flickr
- Toledo Harbor Lighthouse by CWBash on Flickr
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