A recent news release from Michigan Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow was recently posted here at Lighthouse News, announcing a new bill that would create funding for our historic lighthouses. The bill will benefit Michigan the most, because the grants will be doled out according to how many lighthouses each state has, and the Great Lake State has the most lighthouses of any state in the US. But where will this money come from? Surprisingly, the bill reaches back into the very beginnings of US lighthouses to find the funds.

A Tax On Shipping

Rather than hit the US taxpayers to dig deeper into our pockets for money, or raid some other fund somewhere, the bill would tax on every ton of cargo shipped into the United States. This is how the first lighthouse built in the American colonies was funded, back in 1716.

A penny per ton of cargo entering Boston Harbor built the first lighthouse in the American colonies at Brewster Island. But with inflation, the tax has gone up one hundred percent, to two cents per ton. The United States still taxes foreign shipping at 2 cents per ton to pay for lighthouse maintenance. But with the Coast Guard getting rid of lighthouses, mostly to non-profit groups, those funds have still been going to lighthouse maintenance that’s not being done.

The money would be diverted into a pilot program, run by the Secretary of the Interior, that would allow states and nonprofit groups to apply for competitive grants for restoration projects. The pilot program would be budgeted for $20 million a year for three years.

Bill Not Passed Yet

Although the bill is exciting for members of the Port Huron Museum, which is attempting to get title to Fort Gratiot Lighthouse from the Coast Guard, the bill has only been introduced at this time. This year, the Coast Guard closed the interior of the tower to tours because of structural integrity concerns. The building, completed in 1829, is the oldest lighthouse in Michigan.

It is a classic case of the Coast Guard not abiding by the principles of historic renovation. The 86-foot tall tower has several exterior cracks and bricks have fallen out in several places, most likely because of sandblasting that removed the surface of the bricks. Without the surface protection, the bricks absorbed water, leading to chipping when the water froze, according to Dennis Zembala, president of the Port Huron Museum.

Jennifer Radcliff, a member of the Michigan Lighthouse fund, says in the article:

“The risk with Fort Gratiot is the tower and the softness of the brick and the poor decisions the Coast Guard made with the coating on the bricks,” she said.

The legislation, Radcliff said, would direct part of the 2-cent lighthouse tax to its original purpose — maintaining lighthouses.

“We felt the right thing is, if you own the lighthouses and are using taxes to care for them, that’s fine,” she said. “But if you no longer own the lighthouse and someone else is caring for them, some of the revenue should come with ownership.”

Between this bill, and the wish that the money the government makes for selling off lighthouses to private citizens would go into a preservation fund, the future would be bright for our beacons.

And On The Other Side Of Lake Huron…

Port Huron is connected to Sarnia, Ontario, by the beautiful Blue Water Bridge (pictured below), which crosses over the St. Clair River on the southern end of Lake Huron. If you travel a meandering route up to the Bruce Peninsula on Georgian Bay, you’ll come to the small town of Collingwood. Home to less than 18,000 people, its situated on Nottawasaga bay at the southern end of the Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron).

On an island near the harbor sits one of Ontario’s Imperial Lighthouses, the Nottawasaga Lighthouse. This limestone lighthouse soars 68 feet and bears a striking resemblance to Fort Gratiot. It also suffered from a structural breakdown in 2004, was stabilized in 2005 and is currently awaiting a full restoration, which was planned for 2008 once enough money had been raised. However, the money for that isn’t forthcoming as easily as it may for the US lighthouses.

Money is being raised the hard way in this case, with a door to door effort by Jim Kilgour, Chair of the Nottawasaga Lighthouse Restoration Group. Besides knocking on doors, he’s making phone calls to get support for the 4.5 million dollar restoration. Mostly to the Federal Government, which he says that “unfortunately the government doesn’t see preserving heritage structures as a priority.”

A full thirty percent of the lighthouse’s northeast wall fell off, and it is currently being held together with metal bands as a temporary solution. Photos can be seen at Collingwood Living. Kilgour says the best case scenario would be to get the government to pay for the restoration. He would also like the town to do a fundraiser to raise a half million dollars for a trust fund for future maintenance work.

According to an article at the Bayshore Broadcasting Company:

The Collingwood structure is one of 6 imperial lighthouses built in 1858 and is rated 94 out of 100 on the heritage scale. In August, Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier met with officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to express the need to protect the lighthouse.

But the government hasn’t offered any solutions or money yet.

A state and a province, tied together by a bridge, and the attitude of their governments toward lighthouses are two completely different things. It’s so sad that even after the passage of the Canadian Lighthouse Heritage Act, that someone has to go knocking on doors to try and raise money to repair this neglected Imperial Lighthouse.

Ontario, take a look to your neighbor to the west, and start funding the efforts of your citizens to protect their heritage before it’s too late.

Photo Credits:

• Fort Gratiot Ligthouse (top) © artsturdevant. Some rights reserved.
• Fort Gratiot Lighthouse © mandj98. Some rights reserved.
• Blue Water Bridge © k.l. macke. Some rights reserved.
• Nottawasaga Lighthouse from Images of Canadian Lighthouses.

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