Sheringham Lighthouse (BC) restoration nears completion
The Sheringham Point Lighthouse in British Columbia, Canada, was declared surplus in 2010 and received heritage status in 2015, a designation that opened the path to being turned over to the Sheringham Point Lighthouse Preservation Society.
Since that time, the preservation society has repaired the concrete, painted the entire structure, replaced the glass in the lantern room at the top of the tower, and generally cleaned the entire interior. A final piece of the restoration is still underway and involves the return of the Fresnel lens to the lantern room. The lighthouse attracts about 15,000 visitors a year.
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Braddock Point Lighthouse (NY) is for sale
Built in 1895, the Braddock Point Lighthouse in Hilton, New York, is on the market for $996,000. The lighthouse was deactivated in 1954 and was then reactivated in 1999. It’s also a bit shorter than it was back in the 1890s—structural damage forced the Coast Guard to remove the upper portions of the tower when they deactivated it. The lighthouse sits on 5 acres and is connected to the home, which has sheltered a total five lighthouse keepers and three private owners.
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Tower Redo Nixes Montauk Lighthouse (NY) Holiday Lighting
Each year for the past 12 years, the Montauk Historical Society flipped the switch on thousands and thousands of lights strung up at the iconic Lighthouse on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The relatively new but popular tradition is on hold this year for two good reasons. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic there are safety measures at play, but the spotlight is also on the historic restoration project under way at the tower.
The construction work is the most extensive restoration of the lighthouse since 1860. At a price tag of $1.3 million, and organized into three stages, the project is about a quarter of the way through the second stage. The first phase was to fortify the tower against water that would seep in through cracks. The second step is the repointing of the tower itself.
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Lightkeepers keep Ned’s Point Lighthouse (MA) looking sharp for the holidays
The Friends of Ned’s Point Lighthouse came out on a windy Nov. 24 afternoon to decorate the lighthouse for the holidays. They replaced the flags on the catwalk, and added some holiday lights and a large wreath, which had to be hauled up to the top by a rope. The decorations will stay up on the lighthouse until at least the new year.
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Guiding Lights: New book tells stories of women lighthouse keepers through the ages
Shona Riddell’s new book, Guiding Lights: The Extraordinary Lives of Lighthouse Women, tells stories from around the world over two millennia, from the ancient Greek goddess Hestia to New Zealand’s only female head lighthouse keeper, Mary Bennett, who ran Pencarrow Lighthouse in Wellington from 1855-1865.
Use the player below to hear an interview with Shona Riddell in the USLHS podcast, Light Hearted.
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Point Reyes (CA) celebrates birthday
At Point Reyes in California, the national seashore staff along with the Point Reyes National Seashore Association will kick off a year of celebrations with a virtual 150th birthday bash at 6 p.m. PT on December 1. You can join park rangers for lighthouse history, stories, a virtual tour, and songs celebrating the past 150 years. For more information and to register, visit go.nps.gov/pore/LH150.
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U.S. Lighthouse Society News 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 D’Entremont 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