By Sue Clark on Jan 2, 2008 in News | 2 Comments 
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New Year Resolution For a Lighthouse
Alcatraz Island Lighthouse, the tower on the infamous former prison site, has been getting cranky, recalcitrant and positively obese. At least its 700 pound glass lens has. And so, for the New Year, the tower has resolved to shed a full ninety percent of its lens size. Becoming lighter does come with problems, though. There will be some dimming of the beam. But maybe the efficiency of this new size lens will more than make up for becoming a little less bright.
By Sue Clark on Dec 31, 2007 in Opinion, Restoration | Leave a Comment Print This Post
The Most Expensive Rocks Anywhere
Our previous story was about New Point Comfort Lighthouse and the $750,000 rock job. Well, that pales in comparison to what it’s expected to cost at Montauk Point Lighthouse in New York to do almost the same thing. The full amount being budgeted for masonry work at the base of the lighthouse, and the revetment replacement that has helped stop erosion for the past 15 years? A cool $15 million dollars. The lighthouse will get $7.1 million from the federal government, $5.6 million from the state and about $2 million from the Montauk Historical Society, which owns and operates the lighthouse. The federal money is being appropriated as part of the 2007 Water Bill, which covers coastal projects, drainage and other water related items.
By Sue Clark on Dec 30, 2007 in Opinion, Threatened | 1 Comment Print This Post
Erosion Threatening New Point Comfort Lighthouse
Sitting on a quarter acre pile of rocks in Chesapeake Bay, the New Point Comfort Lighthouse is precariously perched as the winter storms will toss them around. Abandoned by the Coast Guard in 1963 and left to weather the storms, waves and vandalism, this once proud beacon’s land is washing away. Storms such as Hurricane Isabel in 2003 have washed away much of what used to be an island. When it was built in 1805, it could be accessed on foot at low tide. Now it’s inaccessible and sits only 8 to 9 feet above mean sea level on its own island.
By Sue Clark on Dec 29, 2007 in Featured | Leave a Comment Print This Post
Who Owns This Lens?
A long-standing dispute that’s not a dispute over the ownership of a Fourth Order fresnel lens came to light recently when Ohio’s Lorain Lighthouse again requested the return of their lens from the Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse in New York. “I wouldn’t call it a dispute,” said Richard Novak, executive director for the Lorain Port Authority. “We just feel that it would be nice to have the lens come home.”
By Sue Clark on Dec 28, 2007 in Restoration | Leave a Comment Print This Post
Good News For Two Lighthouses
Some lighthouse groups got some good news at year end for restoration efforts, unlike Bodie Island which lost its funding. At least two lighthouses were awarded grants for their restoration efforts.
Hereford Island Lighthouse
Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, New Jersey, an absolutely gorgeous lightstation located on Central Avenue in North Wildwood, will be funded for its final phase of restoration in 2008. This formerly inactive light, boarded up for 18 years, will receive a $330,000 federal transportation grant to repair the interior walls and install a new fire protection system and air conditioning. This will complete the restoration of this light, and everything from now on will be maintenance only.
By Sue Clark on Dec 27, 2007 in Threatened | Leave a Comment Print This Post
Another Loss To Erosion
Sand Island Lighthouse, Alabama, sitting on what was once an island but is now just a little pile of leftover granite boulders, is the latest in a long list of lighthouses threatened by erosion. Built on wooden pilings sunk deep into the sand, rot has eaten away its foundation. And the island it once sat on is no longer, thanks to wind, waves and storms, leaving the lighthouse, decommissioned and abandoned by the government in 1933, on the verge of collapsing into the Atlantic.
Alcatraz Island Lighthouse, the tower on the infamous former prison site, has been getting cranky, recalcitrant and positively obese. At least its 700 pound glass lens has. And so, for the New Year, the tower has resolved to shed a full ninety percent of its lens size. Becoming lighter does come with problems, though. There will be some dimming of the beam. But maybe the efficiency of this new size lens will more than make up for becoming a little less bright.
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written by Wendell Jamieson, and was excerpted on the 