Tucker’s Island Lighted

The replica of the long lost Tucker’s Island Lighthouse that was built in 1999 at the Tuckerton Seaport in New Jersey was lighted this past January 1st. The replica lighthouse was built about one third larger than the original. The new light was donated to the lighthouse thanks to a $5,000 community grant from Atlantic City Electric. The light was lighted by Gavin and Thomas Gleghorn who are descendants of Arvilla Horner who was a caretaker of the original lighthouse.

MLM Needs Help Now

The Maine Lighthouse Museum has experienced an extreme shortfall from its projected income from 2013 and donations are urgently needed. The museum’s all volunteer staff has worked diligently in the past few years to get the struggling museum on its feet and they have made immense progress, but it just wasn’t quite enough in 2013. Founded by the late Ken Black, this is a spectacular museum with one of the best and largest collections of lighthouse lenses and lighthouse artifacts in the nation and is highly deserving of your help to continue its educational mission. It also includes the artifacts of the American Lighthouse Foundation’s former Museum of Lighthouse History that was started by Timothy Harrison. Every donation is vitally important. Hopefully, the readers of Lighthouse Digest will step forward to help the museum. It is a worthy cause. Donations can be made by mail to Maine Lighthouse Museum, One Park Drive, P.O. Box 1116, Rockland, ME 04841 or on-line at www. MaineLighthouseMuseum.org. .

Interactive St. Augustine

Later this year, Florida’s St. Augustine Lighthouse will have a new interactive exhibit that will allow the visitors to experience life as light keeper William Harn and his family did while living at the lighthouse. The new exhibit will be entitled “At Home with the Harns.”.

Road Money at Point Reyes

Sometime in 2018, or sooner, a whopping $17 million in federal and local funds will become available to make major improvements to the 22 miles of roadway leading to California’s Point Reyes Lighthouse. According to Cicely Muldoon, superintendent of the seashore, the project will ensure safe driving conditions for visitors travelling in the park, provide efficient parking space to support demand for recreational access in the park, and correct maintenance needs and costs.

Light Descendant Interred

Lorraine Henrietta Israel Rountree, the granddaughter of Robert Decatur Israel, a lighthouse keeper at California’s Old Point Loma Lighthouse from 1871 to 1892, was interred at the columbarium at Rosecrans National Cemetery. Although she passed away on April 7, 2010 the family had been holding her ashes. When they heard about the possible closing of Rosecrans National Cemetery, the family decided to have her remains joined in the columbarium with those of her grandfather, father, and other family members.

Lens Stays at Nubble

After the electrical lines going to York, Maine’s Cape Neddick Light Station were damaged in a storm and the back-up solar power took over, the Coast Guard indicted that they would remove the Fresnel lens from the tower and replace it with an LED light. But the community and the town objected, forcing the Coast Guard to back down, and the tower will keep its historic Fresnel lens. Although the lighthouse, more commonly known as the Nubble Light, is owned by the town, the Fresnel lens in the tower is still owned by the Coast Guard. The decision by the Coast Guard to keep the lens in place came as a sigh of relief to the community, which was prepared for a battle..

Phony Woes at Kilauea

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages Hawaii’s Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, announced that the site will no longer be open seven days per week because of a flat and declining budget. It will now be closed each Sunday and Monday through the rest of the year. They stated, “The refuge cannot maintain the staff necessary to support a seven days a week visitor program and conduct conservation work necessary for wildlife that depends on the refuge.” The refuge is the home to the Kilauea Point Lighthouse, which recently saw its name changed to the Daniel K. Inouye Point Lighthouse. In 2013 a $1 million restoration was completed on the lighthouse, some of which were privately donated funds. In my humble opinion, the closure is another example that shows that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife does not and never will have the interest of historic sites anywhere near the top of their agenda, and they should not be allowed to own historic sites, even if they are within the boundaries of refuges or wildlife preserves.

Seguin Undertakes Projects

The Friends of Seguin Island Light Station recently announced that they received seed money to help in their efforts to return the 1857 fog bell to the island light and to restore the historic tramway that leads to the top of the island and the lighthouse. This will be a monumental project on the island that is located 2½ miles out in the ocean from the mouth of the Kennebec River in what is often rough water, and they are appealing to the public for help. Donations can be sent to Friends of Seguin Island Light Station, 72 Front St, Suite 3, Bath, Maine 04530 or made on-line at www.seguinisland.org.

Gay Head Correction

In the last issue, we made an error in the address to send donations for the Gay Head Lighthouse Fund. The correct address is Town of Aquinnah, Gay Head Lighthouse Fund, 65 State Road, Aquinnah, MA 02535.

New Beam at Santa Cruz

The flashing light atop California’s Santa Cruz Lighthouse has been replaced by a new beacon that emits a sweeping beam at five second intervals for 16 miles out across the Monterey Bay. A 35-watt bulb encased in glass and made in New Zealand now beams from inside the Fresnel lens. In order for this to have been accomplished, local volunteers had to convince the Coast Guard to give up ownership of the light and transfer ownership to city.

Irish Lights Damaged

The Irish Lighthouse Service has reported six lighthouses were damaged by extreme winds and tides that hit the west and south coasts this past winter. The worst damage was to the Inis Oirr Lighthouse on Aran Island where window frames were blown out and sections of the perimeter and compound walls collapsed. Other lights damaged: Baily Howth in County Dublin, Castletown in County Cork, Cromwell Point in County Kerry, and Loop Head in County Clare.

Edgartown Transfer

Under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, the ownership of the Edgartown Lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts has been awarded to the Town of Edgartown.

Steps to Save Cabrillo Lens

The U.S. Coast Guard has announced that it is likely to soon decommission the lens in California’s Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, which would likely require the lens to be removed from the lantern room and require it to be put in an expensive environmentally safe display area, something that would be devastating to the lighthouse. The president of the Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association wrote, “Losing the light would be catastrophic for the light station and the park, effectively removing its heart and if the light goes out in the lighthouse, the park’s soul will go dark with it.” We couldn’t agree more. For the historical integrity of Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, it’s better to stay with the status quo.

St. Marks Transferred

The ownership of Florida’s St. Marks Lighthouse was officially transferred on October 10, 2013 from the Coast Guard to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as part of the St. Marks National Wildlife Service. The transfer was supposed to have taken place in 2006, but contaminated soil that had to be removed from the site delayed the transfer until now. The property included in the transfer is approximately eight acres of land, the 73-foot tall 1842 lighthouse, and the lightkeeper’s house that was built in 1867. The USFWS stated that they will work in partnership with the nonprofit St. Marks Refuge Association to begin stabilizing and restoring the lighthouse.

Eddystone Bottle - $10,000

At a recent silver auction in England, a 3.5 inch replica of the Eddystone Lighthouse in the form of a scent bottle and vinaigrette that was made in 1873 was sold for slightly more than $10,000. So, when you are visiting antique stores, look for those lighthouse items. You never know what you might find.

Heritage Sites Declared

Canada has designated two more of its lighthouses as Heritage Sites under the Canadian Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act (HLPA). They are the Active Pass Lighthouse, which is also known as the Georgian Point Lighthouse in British Columbia, and the Estevan Point Lighthouse on the west coast of Vancouver Island, also in British Columbia. Previously, two other British Columbia Lighthouses were designated as heritage sites: East Point Lighthouse, also known as Saturna Island Lighthouse, and Fisgard Lighthouse.

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Port St. Joe Gets Lighthouse

The National Park Service has approved the City of Port St Joe’s application for ownership of Florida’s Cape San Blas Lighthouse. The next step will be to get the General Services Administration to actually convey the property. This means that the lighthouse is one step closer to being moved back from the eroding shoreline to a safer location. But, a lot of money still needs to be raised to accomplish that goal.

NLM Scheduled to Open

Having recently reached their interim fundraising goal of $350,000, and after many years delay, the National Lighthouse Museum in Staten Island, New York, is now scheduled to open on August 7. Reportedly the funds are now covered that were needed to negotiate the lease with the City of New York for the museum’s new home in the former Lighthouse Depot foundry building at the historic site. However, the National Lighthouse Museum now says it needs an additional $300,000 to open its doors to the public, and is offering a number of donor opportunities, which can be viewed and made online at www.lighthousemuseum.org. For additional information, you can also call NLM Executive Director Linda Dianto at 347-463-1119.

This story appeared in the Mar/Apr 2014 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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