Outer Banks Conservationists seek help for Currituck Beach Lighthouse (NC)
Work at North Carolina’s Currituck Beach Lighthouse has been delayed by the current pandemic. Crucial cast-iron components are in need of repair. But repairs stopped in March and a revenue shortage is making it harder to cover the costs. The Outer Banks Conservationists, the organization that has taken care of the lighthouse for the past 40 years, is asking for help. The group says it needs $345,000 to complete repairs. The lighthouse has been closed this season, meaning much revenue has been lost.
Follow this link to donate to the Outer Banks Conservationists
Click here to read more (free registration needed)
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Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse (FL) closed while work takes place
Florida’s Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum will be closed for day tours most of September. The property will be closed for daytime tours from Sept. 1-22 so a variety of maintenance work can be done on the site. The maintenance will center on the lighthouse grounds, museum and gift shop. Work includes repairing plaster ceilings, repairing and cleaning the property’s brick pathways and landscaping. The lighthouse is currently open Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with last admission at 1, with many special guidelines in effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum website
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Mission Point Lighthouse (MI) Celebrating 150 Years
Michigan’s Mission Point Lighthouse will be celebrating a major milestone on September 10. The lighthouse is currently going through several renovation projects to mark this special anniversary. The gift shop and the lower-level museum is currently open on weekends 12-4 p.m.
To read more (story and video) click here
Mission Point Lighthouse website
Related story: Erosion and high water battering lighthouse shoreline
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Funding needed to maintain Sheffield Island Lighthouse (CT)
The Norwalk Seaport Association is asking for help raising money to maintain the Sheffield Island Lighthouse after its largest annual fundraiser was canceled due to COVID-19. The association announced the cancelation of the 43rd annual Oyster Festival in May amid concerns about spreading the coronavirus. The volunteer-run event is a Norwalk tradition and raises more than $200,000 annually for community groups, including for the Seaport Association. Proceeds from the Oyster Festival go toward maintaining and preserving the Sheffield Island Lighthouse, which the group bought in 1986.
The fundraising page lists a $5,000 goal, but Norwalk Seaport Association President Mike Reilly said the group would like to raise $100,000, which is a fraction of its normal operation costs.
Norwalk Seaport Association GoFundMe page
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New Presque Isle Lighthouse (MI) celebrates sesquicentennial
The New Presque Isle Lighthouse has stood as a guiding light for Lake Huron’s mariners over the last 150 years. The lighthouse is 113 feet tall, making it the tallest lighthouse of the Great Lakes that the public is able to climb. A 138-step spiral staircase takes visitors to the top of the lighthouse. In preparation for its 150th anniversary, lighthouse’s cupola was sanded and repainted. The tower was also repainted, and the cedar shake shingles on the keeper’s house are being replaced this year.
A weeklong celebration was originally planned for the public, but because of the pandemic, the plans were changed. Presque Isle Township and the township Museum Society are encouraging the public to remain engaged by participating in a photo contest as well as a shoreline cleanup.
Presque Isle Township Museum Society
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Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse (OH) holding annual garage sale
The Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse’s annual garage-sale fundraiser will be happening in early September. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 12 in and around the garage at the museum and lighthouse. All sale proceeds will benefit the Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse, which is operating for an abbreviated season this year because of state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions.
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Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse (MI) makes improvements for Keeper Program
The Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse Society is making improvements to the lighthouse’s assistant-keepers house, originally built in 1908, in preparation for a new Keeper Program, where interested participants could apply to spend the summer helping with the lighthouse.
The society’s newest project has been restoring the assistant keeper’s house, keeping it period appropriate. According to Larry Becker, the Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse Society president, “We’ve been doing a lot of painting and updating the internal structure,” said Becker. “All while keeping it period appropriate.”
Click here to read more (subscription required to read entire article)
Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse Society website
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Collection of historic lighthouse prints donated to the National Lighthouse Museum
What is being celebrated as the largest collection of historic lighthouse prints — more than 500 works from all over the world — is going to the National Lighthouse Museum on Staten Island, New York. The benefactors are Loren and Patricia Graham. Loren Graham’s interest in lighthouses dates to the early 1970s when he and his wife bought the Old North Lighthouse on Grand Island in Lake Superior, where Patricia’s family had been visiting since the 1880s. The bequest was announced in 2018 and the plan was to gift the collection to the museum over three years. It will be known as “The Loren R. and Patricia Albjerg Graham Collection.”
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Lighthouse News of the Week is produced by the U.S. Lighthouse Society to support lighthouse preservation, history, education and research.
If you have items of interest to the lighthouse community and its supporters, please email them to Jeremy at Jeremy@uslhs.org
Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of more than 20 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org