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Shown here is the nearly completed new lantern room for St. Georges Reef Light in California.
Cost to date for materials and labor is slightly over $25,000. Thanks to readers of Lighthouse Digest and other contributors, $12,000 has been raised toward this total, leaving a balance of $13,000. Raising this additional money will be a challenge, but an even bigger challenge will be raising the money needed to airlift the new lantern room out to the remote island lighthouse.
The original plan called for the Army Air Guard to helo the lantern room to the lighthouse, however this will now not be possible due to limitations of their craft. The non-profit group has since contracted with a private firm, which will charge them $26,500 for this service. Although they are still searching for a firm that might be willing to donate their services, this seems unlikely at this point.
All of this means the group needs to raise $39,500 in the next 30 days so the lantern room can be returned before the late fall and winter storms hit the area. The restoration and return of the lantern room is the absolute key to the future of the lighthouse since the group will then be able to enter the next phase of its long-range plan, which is the opening of the lighthouse for public access.
If they don’t reach their fund raising goals soon, they will have to secure the site with a temporary roof. However, seeing the tower without its lantern room is heart wrenching with the tower resembling a headless torso.
Donations can be sent to:
St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society
P.O. Box 577
Crescent City, CA 95531
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