The Connecticut State House of Representatives has passed, by a vote of 118 to 26, a bill that would allow America’s Castles LLC to transform Penfield Reef Lighthouse into a columbarium to house memorial urns, which they stated would help defray the cost of maintaining the historic 1874 structure that sits in the waters of Long Island Sound at the entrance to Black Rock Harbor.
The bill will allow the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to issue the necessary permits. The bill went to the Connecticut State Senate where it is hoped that it will get final approval.
If approved, the Penfield Reef Lighthouse will become the second United States lighthouse to have the ashes of cremated people stored forever on site. The other lighthouse is Oregon’s Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.
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