By Sue Clark on Jul 1, 2009 in News | 3 Comments
Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Light to Maintain Whaleback
Whaleback Lighthouse in Maine was transferred to the American Lighthouse Foundation and Friends of Porstmouth Harbor Lighthouse in a ceremony held at Portland Head Light on June 30. At the same time, Maine’s governor John Baldacci, in conjunction with the Maine Office of Tourism, the US Coast Guard and the American Lighthouse Foundation, announced the first ever Maine Open Lighthouse Day, to be held on Saturday, September 12. Fifty two of Maine’s lighthouses will be open for visiting. More on this below, but first about Whaleback, which will be among those open on that day.
By Sue Clark on Jun 30, 2009 in News | 1 Comment
South Africa’s Kowie River Breakwater Light Disappeared
High water and huge waves pounding the West Pier at Port Alfred, South Africa, for the past three days caused horrific damage to the concrete and washed away the little red navigational lighthouse at the end of the breakwater. Besides the loss of the iconic lighthouse, the storms caused the shifting of massive concrete blocks and rocks, and the end of the pier started tilting and cracking. The banks of the river were also damaged, with huge sinkholes appearing where the waves had scoured out the rocks.
By Sue Clark on Jun 24, 2009 in News | 0 Comments
A private but active lighthouse on Lake Winnebago is possibly headed for the Neenah Register of Historic Places. One of four lighthouses on the lake in Wisconsin, it was constructed in 1945 as a landmark for yacht races on the lake.
By Sue Clark on Jun 24, 2009 in News | 1 Comment
Bids Being Accepted For Work
The Rondout Creek Lighthouse, New York, informally known as the Kingston Lighthouse, will be getting new windows as soon as bids are closed on the project. The lighthouse on the Hudson River will also have work done on the front portico. Years of harsh weather have battered the windows, but at least not as badly as the time the lighthouse itself was battered by a schooner. The project is expected to being in mid to late summer, and should take about 70 days to complete.
By Sue Clark on Jun 23, 2009 in News | 3 Comments
Bureaucracy In Action - Or Inaction?
Point Lowly Lighthouse, near Whyalla in South Australia, has been deemed to be unsafe and the Whyalla Council (its owner and operator) must not turn the light on anymore, according to recent correspondence received by them from the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. The reasoning for this decision is that the light itself has been decommissioned and that the station has been delisted from the Admiralty publications for navigation purpose.
By Sue Clark on Jun 19, 2009 in News | 0 Comments
Light To Be Turned Off In Preparation
If you want to see the beam from the Fourth Order Fresnel lens atop Ocracoke Lighthouse, North Carolina, you’d best plan to do so before July 11. That’s when the Coast Guard will be turning off the light in anticipation of the much needed repairs to the interior. The light itself will be off for about sixty days, with actual restoration work beginning around the first of August. During this time the lighthouse will be closed to the public, and only viewable from the end of the boardwalk.
By Sue Clark on Jun 18, 2009 in News | 2 Comments
Plans To Move Light Stalled
As the Middle Bay lighthouse in Mobile Alabama grows more derelict each day, plans to move it inland are still on hold. A meeting of the Alabama Historical Commission is scheduled for next week to decide on it fate. The local preservation group concerned about it, the Alabama Lighthouse Association, called for it to be moved last year. But time marches slowly in government, and the committee will just now be deciding if it should stay or if it should go to a new home at Battleship Memorial Park. The cost of moving the lighthouse 15 miles by crane and barge is estimated to be $1.7 million dollars, including restoration.
By Sue Clark on Jun 16, 2009 in News | 2 Comments
And Not From Vandalism
Happisburgh Lighthouse, the only privately run lighthouse in Great Britain, had a bit of bad luck the other day. It had been overdue for a new coat of paint, and after getting the paint for the masonry donated and some minor repairs to the exterior completed, the painting work began as scheduled. Unfortunately, as the workers were just finishing up painting the red portions of the lighthouse, a torrential rainfall appeared, and the still wet paint ran down into the white, turning it into an unlikely shade of pink.To complete the painting, the workers will now have to use twice as much white paint as planned.
By Sue Clark on Jun 13, 2009 in News | 0 Comments
Rich Anderson, of Truro, MA, converted his love for Highland Lighthouse into a working model. And not just any old model. It’s eight feet tall at its highest, and lights up and rotates. So what’s so special about it? Lots of people have decorative outdoor lighthouses, right?
By Sue Clark on Jun 13, 2009 in News | 5 Comments
Broken Lens Repaired
Beginning life on a steamer plying the Great Lakes, this unusual Sixth Order Fresnel Lens was pressed into service at the Two Rivers North Pier Lighthouse in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Constructed in 1886, it was small thirty-six foot tall skeletal wooden light on the end of the North pier. After years of lonely service, the lighthouse begin the inevitable decline toward deterioration and was rebuilt in 1926. It was lonely service because this tower never had a keeper assigned to it. The keepers from the Rawley Point Light Station, five miles away, were charged with keeping this one also.
Whaleback Lighthouse in Maine was transferred to the American Lighthouse Foundation and Friends of Porstmouth Harbor Lighthouse in a ceremony held at Portland Head Light on June 30. At the same time, Maine’s governor John Baldacci, in conjunction with the Maine Office of Tourism, the US Coast Guard and the American Lighthouse Foundation, announced the first ever Maine Open Lighthouse Day, to be held on Saturday, September 12. Fifty two of Maine’s lighthouses will be open for visiting. More on this below, but first about Whaleback, which will be among those open on that day.
