Lighthouse News

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.

Conneaut Lighthouse will be up for auction again in Spring of 2010. The purchaser, Gary Zaremba, did not get the required bottomlands lease from the state of Ohio. Watch this site for more information for when the auction draws near.

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.

Can Be Yours For Only £650,000 GBP

At least the story at the Daily Record says it’s for sale through unique property specialists Strutt and Parker. I couldn’t find it on their website, though. Usually lighthouses they sell are listed under hot properties, and I even gave them a couple of days to put it up, but so far, nothing. So, relying on the news story, the info is as follows. That is, if you want to spend the money for a lighthouse home, while not actually buying the lighthouse. It’s no longer active, though, so I don’t know if Princess Anne will be visiting it anytime soon. It was recently decommissioned, so the Northern Lighthouse Board may be willing to sell the Killantringan Lighthouse.

Another One On the Auction Block

The GSA, also known as the US lighthouse broker, is auctioning off another lighthouse. This one, Borden Flats Lighthouse, is at the mouth of the Taunton River near Fall River, Massachussetts. It is a 50 foot cast iron and brick spark plug type, still active, built on a granite caisson. It comes with its very own foghorn that blasts every ten seconds when needed, and also has NOAA weather equipment atop it. So you will have to share access to it with two governmental entities. So far, no one has bid on this lovely lighthouse, which is located only a half mile from land. That gives it much better access than some of the other offshore lights that have gone up for sale recently.

Emmet County is now the proud owner of McGulpin Point lighthouse. The sale was recently finalized, and the county has established a new County Historical Commission, whose duty it will be to create a long-term plan for the light station’s restoration and interpretation. GLLKA President Dick Moehl and GLLKA Straits Coordinator Sandy Planisek are both serving active roles on this commission. Thanks to Terry Pepper for this news.

Offshore Lighthouses (And a Lightship) Up For Sale

The auctions are closed. Both Lighthouses have been sold. Between the two of them, the government made over a half million dollars on them. West bank sold for $245,000 and Old Orchard Shoal Lighthouse went for $235,000. Sign up for E-Mail updates on more government auctions. Or check the Lighthouses For Sale Category Listing.

NPS Releases List For 2008

Arguably Michigan’s most photographed pair of lighthouses have been placed on the Excess List by the National Park Service for this year. St. Joseph North Pierhead Lights (Inner and Outer) will be offered to a non-profit or municipality for ownership under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. Notices of interest by municipalities and non-profit groups are due by July 19, 2008. The current Announcement and Fact Sheet can be downloaded from the NPS site.

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.