Lighthouse News

East Charity Shoal Lighthouse On the Block

An offshore lighthouse in Jefferson County, New York, in NE Lake Ontario has become the fist lighthouse up for auction in 2009. The East Charity Shoal lighthouse auction opened May 11, and has no set closing date at this time. No bids have been received, and as all government lighthouse auctions require, a $5,000 deposit is needed to bid. The suggested opening bid is $10,000. Historic covenants and USCG easements will be included in the deed to the successful high bidder. Registration on the General Services Administration auction site is required. Also, you will need to follow their rules carefully regarding the placing of bids.

Not a Real Lighthouse, But…

It might as well be. This 30 acre oceanfront property in Nova Scotia is up for sale for a mere $1,495,000 CDN. The property has a lighthouse-like tower attached to its cozy home with two bedrooms and bath and an observation deck inside it.The main house has a master bedroom suite, a great room, loft, galley kitchen, storage, utility and bath. Other buildings include a large garage and a building to house a generator. This beautiful location is on Second Peninsula, which is about halfway between the towns of Lunenburg and Mahone Bay. Oh heck, let me just put the description from the realtor’s site:

Price Dropped on Isle Au Haut Property

Well, these are hard economic times, and it is a buyer’s market. The word has gone out that the Lighthouse Keeper’s Inn at the Isle Au Haut (Maine) Lightstation has dropped in price to $2.2 million, down from the original asking price of $2.5 million. I guess that’s something of a bargain, if you have that much money to spend in the first place. It’s also now listed with a real estate agency, the Compass Point Real Estate Company in Blue Hill, Maine. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any listing for the Inn.Just to be clear, the Robinson Point Lighthouse, pictured at left, is not included in the sale. The active light is owned and maintained by the town of Isle Au Haut.

Bloody Point Lighthouse in South Carolina on Market

A privately owned lighthouse on Daufuskie Island, near Hilton Head, South Carolina, is being offered for sale by its owner, Joe Yocius. Although the lighthouse is no longer used as an Aid To Navigation, it is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. Not to be confused with Bloody Point Bar Lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, this home has its own unique history. Most of the information on the light has been compiled by the current owner and is available for reading at Low Country Joe’s site.

 Very Low Sale Price On Both

Two of the three lighthouse auctions on the Great Lakes have ended today, with buyers getting quite a steal. Duluth (MN) Harbor South Breakwater Inner Light was the best performer for the government, going for $31,000 to the bidder with the screen name splco. The other light selling today was the Cleveland (OH) Harbor East Breakwater Light. That went for a mere $10,000 to the bidder calling him/herself dimlight. Only Conneaut (OH) Harbor West Breakwater Light remains in play right now, with the addition of a late bidder. Dimlight is also high bidder on this one, with the current offer at $15,000. Still very low for the unusual light, which didn’t have suitable takers when it was offered last year to non-profits.

Price Dropped On Hunstanton Lighthouse

Apparently it’s hard to sell a lighthouse in these tough economic times also. Hunstanton Lighthouse in Norfolk, UK, which went on the market a year ago for the lowly price of £695,000, has been slashed to a mere £499,000 in recent days. That’s only $739,478 USD, folks. And what do you get for the money? A completely rebuilt seaside home that had become so neglected in the 1950s it was used by seaside squatters until it was acquired by the town of Hunstanton in 1964. The lighthouse is no longer in use as an aid to navigation and has been dark since 1922. But you definitely can’t beat the view.

Noting like a soft close to get some action going. All three lighthouses now have bids, and the soft close has been extended by one day (so far) to Dec. 2. Surprisingly, Duluth’s tower has the top bid, at $31,000. The others (in Ohio) are sitting at $10,000 each. That can change in a hurry.

Nevada Attorney Michael L. Gabriel is High Bidder

In a bidding contest that heated up in the last few days before closing, prominent Nevada attorney and lighthouse lover Michael Lynn Gabriel will pay $55,000 for the historic Borden Flats Lighthouse, near Fall River, Mass. Although the cost was much lower than the two recent auctions, the light appears to be in better shape. And it has the benefit of being much closer to land.

Even though two lighthouse auctions (West Bank and Old Orchard) are stuck in a bidding war, while two others (Sharp’s Island and Borden Flats) are open, but without much action on them yet, the General Service Administration is getting ready to put three more lighthouses up for sale to the public, all of them in the Great Lakes. Two are in Ohio and one is in Minnesota. As always, the Invitations For Bids are in PDF format. The links will open in a new window, or you can right click and save them to read at your leisure. You will need Adobe Reader to view them.

Whew, so far the bids are standing at $200,000 for West Bank Lighthouse and $140,000 for Old Orchard Shoal. There will probably be no more bids over the weekend, but come Monday there might be some more action. There is a notice on the site that if the auctions haven’t closed by August 26, the bid increments will be increased to $15,000 rather than the $5,000 as it is now.