Lighthouse News

When Well-Intentioned Repairs Go Awry Part II

Cove Point Lighthouse, Maryland’s oldest continuously operating lighthouse, was recently selected as a recipient of a heritage grant from the state. The tower is owned by the Calvert Marine Museum, and a second grant has been applied for to also renovate the keeper’s house with a complete stabilization of the structure, a new roof, windows and extensive interior work. With that completion, the Museum will be offering the house as a rental to the public for one or two week stays, with the chance to do actual lighthouse type work, such as tracking tides and monitoring ships. The ambitious plans include it being historically accurate to 1923, with of course compliance to today’s standards. While exciting, that’s not what caught my eye in this story. What did, was the reference to “self-destructing bricks.”

Lack of Funding Forces Closure

If you’re planning on going to the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge this October, that will be the only chance for you to climb the Finn’s Point Lighthouse. Its closing was announced today by Howard Schleigal, the manager for Supawna Meadows and Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. According to the Friends of Supawna Meadows, the lighthouse currently has no money allocated in its budget for maintenance and repair. The Department of Interior Budget has been stripped in the proposed 2009 fiscal year Bush Budget, to the tune of $410 million. Natural resources agencies are being starved of funds by Bush’s FY2009 proposal, says the former director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the Clinton administration, Jamie Rappaport Clark. “The president’s final budget deals a huge blow to the agencies and programs charged with safeguarding our nation’s natural resources,” she said. “The next administration will be burdened with mending the damage caused by President Bush’s disastrous policies.”

Group Short On Young Volunteers

Earlier this year, Lighthouse News featured a story about the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse in Delaware, which has huge holes underneath its foundation and the breakwall it sits upon from the scouring action of waves. The Army Corps of Engineers conducted a side scan survey of the breakwall and discovered ten to twelve ton rocks displaced. But that’s not what this current article is about. A recent article at Delmarva.Com highlighted the fund raising efforts of the Delaware River & Bay Lighthouse Foundation to raise $12,000 by the end of the year for some of the repairs. But that’s not what this article is about either. What caught the eye of Lighthouse News in the Delmarva story was a quote by Foundation President Judith Roales.

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Can You Identify This Man?

If you can identify this Maine lighthouse keeper, call Tim Harrison at 207-259-2121 or email him at editor@LighthouseDigest.com.

It’s been two years since Tim Harrison, editor of Lighthouse Digest, came across a photograph of a distinguished looking lighthouse keeper and but the man’s identity still remains a mystery. Harrison, who is nearing completion of a book on the lighthouses of Maine’s Washington County, said he’d like to include the photograph in the book, but he would like to be able to include the man’s name and some information about him and his family. Harrison would also like to know what lighthouse or lighthouses this mystery keeper served at. “When I first discovered the photograph, I thought it should be fairly easy to find someone who might know or recall who he is from old family records or photo albums, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful,” said Harrison.

Stannard Rock Will Monitor Lake Superior Evaporation

In an effort to determine whether “global warming” is causing record low levels to be recorded in Lake Superior, hydrologists have installed equipment at Stannard Rock Lighthouse to measure evaporation. The scientists, from Environment Canada’s Water and Science Technology Branch, have installed a sonic anemometer which produces three-dimensional wind measurements, and an analyzer that gauges water vapor in the air at intervals lasting only tenths of a second. Sensors will keep track of air and water temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity and wind speed and direction. Eventually, plans are to place similar monitors in Lake Huron.

Offshore Lighthouses (And a Lightship) Up For Sale

Get out your checkbooks and get ready for another set of lighthouses going up for sale to the general public via auction. The USA General Services Administration has put up West Bank Lighthouse and Old Orchard Shoal Lighthouse on the market. The auction will open June 5, 2008, with a minimum bid of $10,000. You will need to put up an earnest money deposit of that $10,000, because you will need beaucoup bucks to afford to rehab these stations according to the usual guidelines for historic preservation. Bid increments are the standard $5,000. And as always, the Coast Guard requires access anytime as both lights are still active. The map at the left shows the locations of these two towers, circled in red. Click the map image for a larger view. If you were thwarted in buying Point No Point due to its cancellation, here’s your chance to get your own private retreat.

New Owners May Move Light Away From Cliff

Although the Belle Toute Preservation Trust didn’t become the owners of the Sussex lighthouse, at least their goal of having the lighthouse as a bed and breakfast will become a reality. The new owners of this lightstation near Beachy Head, Eastbourne have indicated they will be fulfilling the dream of Rob Wassell and the Trust to have it opened to the public, and preserved for generations to come. And that may include moving it away from the crumbling cliffs near which it resides. The final selling price of this landmark light was £500,000 ($991,295 USD), a far cry from the original asking price of £850,000.

When Well-Intentioned Repairs Go Awry

In July 2007, Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in Maryland reopened to the public for tours after a challenging restoration. Challenging partly because of the location in Chesapeake Bay, but also challenging because of well-intentioned but misguided repairs while under the management of the Coast Guard. Adrienne DeRan, of Structural Preservation Services in Maryland, has written an article detailing the challenges of repairing the repairs in a recent issue of Associated Construction Publications.

Vandalism, Neglect, Weather Takes Toll

One of New South Wales’ most endangered lighthouses, Crookhaven Head, may get some help to restore it to its natural beauty. The Shoalhaven City Council will be meeting May 27, 2008 to discuss options for restoring this most neglected of Australia’s lighthouses. In a story at the South Coast Register, the council’s Crown Reserve, Works and Community Operations committee discussed the community’s concern with the state of the light tower ad considered ways to turn the lighthouse and headland into a major tourist draw.