By Sue Clark on Jul 12, 2007 in News | Comments Off 
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For the past month, culminating in a week-long meeting, residents of Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo County, California, have been embroiled in a tug of war over access to the lighthouse. In 1992, the Port San Luis Harbor District received the 30-acre site from the Federal Government with the requirement that the station be restored and opened to the public. The Port San Luis Lighthouse Keepers was formed in 1995 to take on the responsibility of maintaining it.
Pacific Gas and Electric has a power plant on the island, and has blocked access to the area due to safety and security concerns, and also because it would mean having to move the main gate to the nuclear power plant. The allowed tours, which require reservations made weeks in advance, are being led by docents, and take visitors over three miles of rough terrain. According to a recent story in the Santa Maria Times:
By Sue Clark on Jul 11, 2007 in Lighthouses For Sale | 1 Comment Print This Post
An historic lighthouse is going up on the auction block by the General Services Administration’s Office of Real Property Disposal. Fourteen Foot Bank Lighthouse, located three miles offshore of Bowers Beach in Delaware Bay, will be auctioned online beginning July 16, 2007. Minimum bid is $10,000 USD and bidding will be in $5,000 USD increments. There will be one property inspection on August 1, and you must be a registered bidder to sign up for it.
By Sue Clark on Jul 11, 2007 in News | Comments Off Print This Post
Fenwick Island Lighthouse, a private aid to navigation at the Delaware and Maryland borders, was established in 1859 and served for 120 years before the Coast Guard transferred it to the state of Delaware. Oliver H. Cropper, current president and founder of the Friends of Fenwick Island Lighthouse was honored last week when the Delaware General Assembly named a point of land jutting into Little Assawoman Bay in his honor. The site will forever be known as “Oliver’s Point.â€
By Sue Clark on Jul 9, 2007 in Lighthouses For Sale | Comments Off Print This Post
Penfield Reef Lighthouse, near the entrance to Black Harbor, Long Island Sound in Fairfield, Connecticut, was declared excess property earlier this year by the Coast Guard. It joins over 20 other lighthouses that have been given away by the NPS for one dollar, except this one is a little different. For that one dollar, you get a lighthouse built with granite on a reef, with a two story home of the Second Empire architectural style, and your very own ghost.
I posted the story July 7 on my other site, hauntedlights.com, and the next day the Connecticut Post ran a story on it, which was picked up by the Associated Press.
By Sue Clark on Jul 9, 2007 in Lighthouses For Sale, News, Restoration | Comments Off Print This Post
Various bits of lighthouse news from around the internet…
Would you like to be by the sea?
An eighteenth century former lighthouse keeper’s home is for sale in Norfolk, UK, according to an article from the Eastern Daily Press. The home is one of two that sandwich the red and white lighthouse tower at Happisburgh. Built in 1791, it has two double bedrooms, a sitting room with fireplace, kitchen-dining room and bathroom, with a large cellar containing a games, study and storage areas. It comes furnished, and is listed at £247,500. Its only drawback is that in one hundred years, three quarters of the land between the lighthouse and the sea may be swallowed up due to erosion.
By Sue Clark on Jul 8, 2007 in Lighthouse Keeper Jobs | Comments Off Print This Post
The Oakland Press, Oakland County, Michigan has a nice story online about Dave and Debbie Parker, Pontiac, who will be vacationing at Big Sable Lighthouse in Ludington State Park for two weeks. It’s a working vacation, in which you have to apply long before you plan to go, complete an application with resume, be interviewed and receive training. Three couples go at the same time, once you’re accepted, and duties range from climbing to the top of the 100 foot tower for tours, running the gift shop to cleaning the outhouse. The couple, who are in their mid-sixties have been in “training” for their vacation, going up and down the stairs at their house, as it’s 130 steps to the tower. Someone is required to be at the top whenever there are visitors.
