Lighthouse News

Happy Birthday Honey, Here’s Your Gift

Clare Island Lighthouse has been sold at auction to a German doctor, who bought it for his wife as a birthday present. So, just how do you wrap up such an item? And how do you explain you spent € 1.05 million for this lighthouse on a cliff in County Mayo, Ireland? And how do you deal with the islanders who are understandably upset that a piece of their history was so blithely sold without the chance for them as a community to purchase it themselves? According to a story in The Mayo News, Clare Island businesswoman Anna Wettergren has criticized the State’s failure to buy important heritage buildings such as the lighthouse.

Vandalism Forces Sale

The village of Grand Manan on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, has put the 1858 Swallowtail Lighthouse Keeper’s home on the market, according to a story at CBC News Canada. Used as a six room Bed and Breakfast, the home has been owned by the village since the lighthouse was automated in 1986. Swallowtail Lighthouse, on the north head of the island in the Bay of Fundy, was in the news a year ago when it was almost consumed by fire, along with the inn, except for the quick thinking of the volunteer firefighters.

Four Star Hotel On the Market

Have you recently won the lottery? Do you have $2.5 million burning a hole in your pocket? Do you want to operate a hotel and restaurant? Well, here’s a deal for you if you do. Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel (an active aid to navigation) on the west coast of Scotland has recently come onto the market. Besides being a beacon guiding sailors to the shore, it also serves as a beacon guiding those who might have imbibed a little too much to their rooms at the hotel it also hosts.

New Hope For the Trust?

Belle Toute Lighthouse in Suffolk, UK, is back on the market after the latest purchase offer fell through. And this time at a greatly reduced price. It originally went on the market for £850,000 last September, and the Belle Toute Trust was created to buy it and turn it into a bed and breakfast. Unfortunately, a private party put in an offer, which was topped by a second offer from another person. And the Trust lost its opportunity. Now the owners are offering it again, but this time for only £595,000. Translated to US dollars, that’s a drop from $1,677,747 (today’s rate) to a mere $1,174,423.

Clare Island Lighthouse: A Steal at $2,162,630

Tired of waiting for the GSA to resume bidding on Point No Point Lighthouse? Forget it…that one needs too much work anyway. Haul out your checkbooks and grab one that’s been completely restored, renovated and modernized. Even better, it’s on an island on the Emerald Isle. And for a cool two million, this six bedroom, six bath luxury home can be yours. Clare Island is located in Clew Bay, off Westport, in the West of Ireland. It is known as the green pearl of the west coast and is the largest of the 365 islands in Clew Bay. It is 3.5 miles from the mainland and accessible by ferry.

Featured Post From November 2, 2007
If you don’t want to take your chances with an online auction that may end up costing you more than you planned to spend due to repairs, you may want to drool over these lighthouses that are for sale right now.

In keeping with the recent rash of government lighthouse sales, Point No Point Lighthouse in Maryland has gone on the auction block. Another offshore light, this one was established in 1905 at the entrance to the Potomac River on the Chesapeake Bay. It’s an octagonal building, two and a half stories of brick on a cast iron and concrete caisson. It is still an active aid to navigation, so whoever buys this one will have a solar powered porch light.

Taking a tip from HGTV’s popular televidion show, the Baltimore Sun has a story about making over a decrepit lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay. Smith Point Lighthouse, at the entrance to the Potomac River, was purchased by Dave McNally of Winona, Minnesota, through a GSA auction in 2005 for $170,000. The fifty-two foot tall beacon, sitting in the middle of the river mouth, and built on a concrete/cast iron caisson, was built in 1897. Although the light was originally commissioned in 1802, this is the fourth manifestation, the others destroyed by erosion and storms.

Lubec Channel Lighthouse, Lubec, Maine, has been sold to “Zaboomba” for $46,000. The online auction closed today at 3:00 p.m. EDT with no further bids being entered. For the money, Zaboomba receives 638 square (round?) feet of living space with a 360 degree waterview. A view like that can’t be bought on the Maine coast for under half a million. But then, this is quite a fixer-upper.

According to GSA rules, the identity of the buyer will be revealed after the bidder has been contacted and the money changes hands. It’s believed Zaboomba also was an unsuccessful bidder for Fourteen Foot Bank Lighthouse in Delaware Bay last month.