Are Lighthouses Outdated?
By Sue Clark on Jul 13, 2007 in Other 
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With the advent of radar, LORAN, GPS, and other electronic aids to navigation, one would think that lighthouses are outmoded, and that none have been built since the early twentieth century. Well, actually, that would be a wrong assumption. A few lighthouses have been built in the twenty first century, and more are planned. Two of the latest planned lights are Oak Orchard Lighthouse at Point Breeze, New York, and one at Walker City Park in Walker, Minnesota.
Oak Orchard Lighthouse is actually a totally new rebuild of the original, which were demolished in 1916 by a terrible storm. It was originally constructed in 1871, but was abandoned by the government in 1905. The original lighthouse stood on the west side of the Oak Orchard River. It was 1,600 feet into the lake. Reconstruction is planned on the east side of the harbor at Point Breeze where it will be anchored to bedrock 20 feet below the surface, which should ensure it will last.
So how did this come about? In 2003, a group determined to rebuild history was formed. Jamie Kowalski, a board member of the Oak Orchard Lighthouse Museum:
“We’re trying to build as historically accurate as we can with the information we have from the National Archives.â€
Most of the permits are in place, and the group is working on fundraising to meet the estimated cost of $172,000 USD. One fundraiser going on now is the sale of bricks that will make up the walkway to the lighthouse. For $50, an individual or family can buy a personalized brick, and become a part of the lighthouse.
A shining beacon of light will soon welcome boaters and anglers to the Walker City Park since the Walker (MN) city council has unanimously approved the construction of a lighthouse. Walker (pop. 1069) is a small town in Cass County, Minnesota, and also serves as the county seat. It lies at the Southwest corner of Leech Lake, the third largest in Minnesota, which covers 111,527 acres. The lighthouse will be thirty feet in height, and one tree will have to be cut down for visibility purposes. The foundation was laid on July 5, and the project is expected to take two weeks to complete.
Two other lighthouses have been built from the ground up in this century. The Burlington (Vermont) Breakwater Lights on Lake Champlain were lit on September 12, 2003. The original towers, built in 1857 were out of wood, and very susceptible to the harsh wind and icy environment of Vermont. The North tower burned in 1870, and in 1876 the South light was knocked over in a storm. They were replaced with steel towers, and manned until 1938.
Burlington’s mayor came up with the idea of recreating the original lighthouses on the breakwater, and with the help of Senator Patrick Leahy, the $250,000 dollar funding for the project was put into a transportation bill. Atlantic Mechanical, lighthouse restoration and building specialists out of Wiscasset, Maine, was hired to do the building, and completed the project in about eight weeks, on time. Jeremy D’Entremont, lighthouse historian, wrote a nice article for the Lighthouse Digest about the lights. According to Larry Paul, owner of Atlantic Mechanical:
“The aesthetics (of a lighthouse) are so much more pleasing than your generic steel tower with a light on it.”
And one last new lighthouse, does double duty as condominiums and as a range light. The Caseville (Michigan) Harbor Lighthouse was constructed in 2001, to be a companion to the range light at the end of the breakwater running out from the mouth of the Pigeon River into Saginaw Bay. The lighthouse was approved by the Coast Guard, which was important for providing some immunity in case the light fails and a tragedy results. Although the Coast Guard is more in the business of getting out of the lighthouse business, a new one still could commissioned if it provides a seervice to boaters and doesn’t cost the taxpayers any money. As such, the Caseville Harbor Lighthouse is listed as a Private Aid to Navigation, stands 65 feet tall, and has white light that flashes once every ten seconds. For more information about the Caseville Harbor Light, its website is casevilleharborlight.com.
What do you think? Are lighthouses still a viable aid to navigation? Leave your opinion below.
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