Lighthouse News

PizzaFest with music by Shannachie: A Benefit for Whaleback Lighthouse
Saturday, May 16, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Kittery Lions Club, 117 State Rd. (Route 1), Kittery, ME

Join Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse for a unique and tasty event! Sample the best offerings from pizza restaurants in the Portsmouth/Kittery area. More than 12 restaurants will be taking part. Along with pizza, there will be salad, soft drinks, and cookies. There will also be a silent auction with great prizes.

We invite you to join representatives of the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF) and its chapter, Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse (FPHL), on March 7, 2009, at 1:00 p.m., for a fun and informational event at the First Congregational Church in Kittery, Maine. Mr. James Gabbert, National Park Service historian, will serve as the keynote speaker for this special event announcing ALF’s new ownership of Whaleback Lighthouse.

Bob Trapani, executive director of ALF, along with Ross Tracy and Jeremy D’Entremont of FPHL, will also discuss the organization’s stewardship of Whaleback Lighthouse, a 50-foot granite tower offshore from Kittery at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Ownership of the 1872 lighthouse was conveyed in November 2008 to ALF/FPHL under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.

Chicago Takes Over the Lighthouse

Chicago is having one heck of a year. The city has sent us the new POTUS, it’s being touted as a possible site for the Olympics, and has generated headlines in the news with the impeachment of their governor. Okay, so the last isn’t necessarily good news, beyond getting Rod Blago out of office, but one other bit of good news is the transfer of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse to the city under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. The transfer was initiated on February 24 by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Long Wait Still Not Over

The Port Huron (Michigan) Times Herald today published a story that the city has received the long awaited deed to the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse, Michigan’s oldest. The light was excessed in 2004, and the city of Port Huron was chosen as the recipient, but it has been in limbo while waiting for the deed. In the meantime, the lighthouse has deteriorated to the point it had to be closed to the public last summerfor safety reasons. But don’t rejoice yet, the wait is still not over. It has to be aqpproved by the City Council, and that may take months as they ponder whether to accept it as is. If not, it will be revised by them and sent back to the Coast Guard for negotiation.

Humboldt County Fair Working To Keep Lens

Last year, the news that the Coast Guard wanted to take back a First Order Fresnel Lens residing at the Humboldt County (California) Fairground entrance (pictured at left) and possibly sell it to a private party raised my eyebrows. The lens has been in the possession of the fairgrounds, in a display at the entrance, since the Coast Guard removed it from Cape Mendocino Lighthouse in 1948. But after a visit from a Washington, D.C. based Coast Guard curator deeming it to be “not in a proper space,” the fairgrounds manager, Stuart Titus, took steps to ensure it would remain in the city’s, and fairground’s, possession.

More Bad News For Iconic Lighthouse

I hate the word iconic, but there is no other way to describe this lovely Pacific Coast (Oregon) Lighthouse. Unfortunately for it, the First Order Fresnel lens has been turned off, for at least the next ninety days. Last September (2008), it was reported that Heceta Head is closed to public access while awaiting repairs totalling $14.5 million dollars. This time, it’s the rotating mechanism upon which the lens rests that is causing the problem.

Harsh Conditions No Deterrent to Group

The Persian Gulf is home to hundreds of lighthouses, most of which have been modernized. But what happened to those classic lenses and other Aids to Navigation (ATON)? Were they dumped over the side of the lighthouses, like so many US Fresnel lenses were tossed when the US Coast Guard took over? We’ll find out in this featured article from Steve Gronow of the Maritime Exchange Museum, as we go along with his group on a rescue mission to Bahrain. The Maritime Excahange Museum is located in Howell, Michigan, and is actively looking for large Lighthouse Fresnel Lenses and any related machinery including old fog signal equipment. See info at end of article.