Lighthouse News

Just a quick update to let everyone know the Heceta Head lighthouse lens has been put back into service. Florida based Lighthouse Lamp, Inc. was in charge of the $22,000 restoration. The money was funded entirely through visitor’s donations to the historic lighthouse in Oregon. There is a story at Siuslaw News if you’d like to read more. The light has been off since early February, when it was determined that the carriage wheel assembly was worn out, and further use might damage it beyond repair.

Finally. After having funding for repairs eliminated at the last minute from previous federal budgets (even though it had been earmarked), Bodie Lighthouse in North Carolina will receive the full $3 million needed for its restoration. The money is included in the fiscal year 2009 Omnibus Budget Bill, the National Park Service Outer Banks Group announced.

When the National Park Service acquired it from the Coast Guard in 2000, pieces of cast-iron metalwork were missing from the top, and the remaining metalwork in the lantern room, gallery deck and support brackets was deteriorating. The 205 steps of the spiral staircase also were corroding. Four years later, chunks of metal fell from the lantern.

Just a quick mention that Jeremy D’Entremont has started a new blog. You might want to visit and check it out. Jeremy is the well known lighthouse historian, photographer, author and webmaster of New England Lighthouses - A Virtual Guide. From his new blog you can keep up with him on Twitter (he’s @lighthouser), view his photos on Flickr, and of course read about lighthouses and comment on his posts.

He’s not offering email subscriptions yet, but we’ll work on getting him up to speed with that.

Visit for a good read: nelights.blogspot.com/

Just a friendly reminder: When contacting Lighthouse News through the Contact Page, please, please put in your correct email address. Check it once. Then check it again. Two persons who have contacted me in the past few days have put in the wrong email address. And although I try and correct it if it’s an easy fix, for example, .va instead of .ca, it may not work anyway. And at the very least it takes more time to reply back. So please, take a moment and triple check your email address.

Although the secondary headline read Michigan, the bill introduced by Sens. Levin and Stabenow yesterday will actually be for the entire nation. It has been named as Senate Bill 715, and has now been sent to the Energy Subcommittee. Please write or email the following members of that committee with your support for this legislation. They will be the deciders of whether to keep the bill open, or to trash it.

1. Mark Udall D-CO (Chairperson)
2. Byron L. Dorgan D-ND
3. Mary L. Landrieu D-LA
4. Robert Menendez D-NJ
5. Blanche Lincoln D-AR
6. Bernard Sanders I-VT

If you’re not already subscribed to the Lighthouse Digest, be sure to sign up in time to receive the May issue. Yours truly will be having an article published in the print issue, about a new lighthouse going up on the Great Lakes. Foghorn Publishing has some special offers (non-affiliate link) going on right now, so start your subscription today. Plus, you’ll be supporting lighthouse restoration by subscribing. And get to read about a brand new beacon.

Just a little self promotion: I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by MainStreet.Com with questions about lighthouses for sale. The story went up on their site the other day. If you’re interested in hearing what I had to say about buying a lighthouse, the story is here:

Extreme Real Estate: Live in a Lighthouse

In the story about the Humboldt County Fairground’s Fresnel Lens and efforts to keep it there, it was erroneously reported in the original story at the Times Standard that the Coast Guard curator claimed the light would be removed and sold to a private person. In email correspondence with Dr.Robert Browning, Chief Historian of the U.S. Coast Guard, it was revealed to Lighthouse News that the original reporter misunderstood what was said and that the lens was never going to be offered for sale to a private party.

Execution Rocks Lighthouse, which was offered up to non-profits in 2007, has been transferred over to the non-profit group Historically Significant Structures as of January 22. The non-profit group, founded by Craig W. Morrison (President) shows as its mission “To obtain historic lighthouse properties available to nonprofit organizations through the National Historic Preservation Act of 2000.” The group has entered a partnership with the Science Museum of Long Island, with their teachers conducting programs at the lighthouse. Morrison said that “a couple of years down the road, after we do the work, we will have science trips out there for children, a bed and breakfast operation and historical classes on nautical safety and maritime history.” Estimates for the renovation are about $1.7 million dollars.

Good news on the story of the Mulkiteo Lighthouse and its Fresnel lens being possibly shut off. I received the following communication from LT Jon Lane, U.S. Coast Guard Thirteenth District Lighthouse Officer. The short and sweet answer on its status:

We just wrapped up our Mukilteo/Possession Sound waterway user survey a few days ago. We determined that a light at Mukilteo is necessary but not critical for safe navigation, therefore the light can operated as a private aid to navigation (PATON).

At this point the light is still being operated by the Coast Guard as an active federal aid to navigation.