By Sue Clark on Jul 1, 2008 in Featured | Comment on this? 
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When Well-Intentioned Repairs Go Awry Part II
Cove Point Lighthouse, Maryland’s oldest continuously operating lighthouse, was recently selected as a recipient of a heritage grant from the state. The tower is owned by the Calvert Marine Museum, and a second grant has been applied for to also renovate the keeper’s house with a complete stabilization of the structure, a new roof, windows and extensive interior work. With that completion, the Museum will be offering the house as a rental to the public for one or two week stays, with the chance to do actual lighthouse type work, such as tracking tides and monitoring ships. The ambitious plans include it being historically accurate to 1923, with of course compliance to today’s standards. While exciting, that’s not what caught my eye in this story. What did, was the reference to “self-destructing bricks.”
By Sue Clark on Jun 27, 2008 in Featured, News | Comment on this? Print This Post
Lack of Funding Forces Closure
If you’re planning on going to the New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge this October, that will be the only chance for you to climb the Finn’s Point Lighthouse. Its closing was announced today by Howard Schleigal, the manager for Supawna Meadows and Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. According to the Friends of Supawna Meadows, the lighthouse currently has no money allocated in its budget for maintenance and repair. The Department of Interior Budget has been stripped in the proposed 2009 fiscal year Bush Budget, to the tune of $410 million. Natural resources agencies are being starved of funds by Bush’s FY2009 proposal, says the former director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the Clinton administration, Jamie Rappaport Clark. “The president’s final budget deals a huge blow to the agencies and programs charged with safeguarding our nation’s natural resources,” she said. “The next administration will be burdened with mending the damage caused by President Bush’s disastrous policies.”
By Sue Clark on Jun 25, 2008 in News, Opinion | Comment on this? Print This Post
Last Surviving Lighthouse In Town
At one time, the Town of Dalhousie in New Brunswick, CA, had three lighthouses. One small wooden structure at the end of a wharf was sold and moved to a different town, Charlo, to stand next to a private residence. Another lighthouse, located on Douglas Island, was accidentally dropped (?) when being moved by apparently incompetent movers and smashed to pieces. One other on Rock Island was demolished when the island was destroyed to make room for a mill. Now, the only one left is Inch Arran, also known as Bon Ami Lighthouse, and the town residents want their council to facilitate its designation under the new Lighthouse Preservation Act, currently awaiting royal assent.
By Sue Clark on Jun 22, 2008 in News, Opinion | 4 Comments Print This Post
First Order Lens Used As Fairgrounds Display
Humboldt County (California) Fairgrounds is apparently home to a First Order Fresnel Lens, manufactured in France, that has been leased to the city of Ferndale since it was removed from Cape Mendocino Lighthouse in 1950. Regular CG inspections have not found anything untoward about this situation, at least not until recently. According to a story in the Times Standard, a Coast Guard housing resident, assigned to maintain records on west coast lighthouses, did a double take when he saw the priceless prism perched above the fairgrounds entrance. He took pictures, and told the fairgrounds manager that he would be contacted in regards to “managing” the rare work of art.
By Sue Clark on Jun 21, 2008 in Featured, Opinion, Volunteer | 3 Comments Print This Post
Group Short On Young Volunteers
Earlier this year, Lighthouse News featured a story about the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse in Delaware, which has huge holes underneath its foundation and the breakwall it sits upon from the scouring action of waves. The Army Corps of Engineers conducted a side scan survey of the breakwall and discovered ten to twelve ton rocks displaced. But that’s not what this current article is about. A recent article at Delmarva.Com highlighted the fund raising efforts of the Delaware River & Bay Lighthouse Foundation to raise $12,000 by the end of the year for some of the repairs. But that’s not what this article is about either. What caught the eye of Lighthouse News in the Delmarva story was a quote by Foundation President Judith Roales.
By Sue Clark on Jun 20, 2008 in News | Comment on this? Print This Post
Big Red Officially Transferred
Affectionately known as Big Red, the Holland Harbor Lighthouse, Holland, Michigan, was officially transferred from the federal government to the Holland Harbor Historical Lighthouse Commission at a ceremony during the recent Michigan Lighthouse Alliance’s conference in Traverse City. After months of dealing with bureaucratic red tape, the transfer was finalized last year, but the presentation of the quit claim deed was done during the conference. The Commission has leased the station from the Coast Guard since the 1970s, at a cost of $1 per year.
