National Lighthouse Day offers free tours Saturday at Roanoke River Lighthouse in Edenton, NC
The annual celebration of National Lighthouse Day (August 7) will be held at the historic 1886 Roanoke River Lighthouse on the waterfront in Edenton. The lighthouse will be open free to visitors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The event also will feature face painting, watermelon slices for sale, a dunking booth, and other low-cost or no-cost activities for families.
* * *
Montauk Lighthouse (NY) restoration project exceeds fundraising goals
The Montauk Point Lighthouse restoration project is getting a boost, thanks to an outpouring of donations and grants from businesses, foundations and individual donors.
The restoration project got underway in 2019, after structural and engineering reports indicated that extreme weather conditions had already impacted the 1796 building.
* * *
Michigan Lighthouse Festival, August 6-7
National Lighthouse Day is Aug. 7, and if you didn’t think to get your favorite area lighthouse a gift (cash donations are most welcome for these aging dames), you can still delight them with a respectful visit to one of the oldest in the crew, the Mission Point Lighthouse at the end of Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City during the upcoming Michigan Lighthouse Festival.
Lighthouse junkies, you might want to start your celebrating the night before, with the special dinner that kicks off with a cash bar at 5 pm, then rolls into a buffet dinner with two cool entertainment acts.
Michigan Lighthouse Festival website
* * *
Heritage Festival on tap this weekend at Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse (MI)
The Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse Society (PABLS) invites everyone to attend the 17th Annual Heritage Festival this Saturday, Aug. 7. The event takes place 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the county’s Lighthouse Park, located six miles north of Port Hope.
After having to cancel the festival last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers are excited to be able to offer a great day of family-friendly activities. All proceeds from the festival will be used for restoration of the lighthouse and life saving station.
* * *
Barnegat Lighthouse (NJ) To Reopen Saturday
“Old Barney” will reopen its doors to visitors on Saturday, just in time for National Lighthouse Day. For the remainder of the summer, the Barnegat Lighthouse will be open only on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Masks are required to enter. The lighthouse will not charge an entrance fee, though donations are welcome.
* * *
Lighting Up Mail: Postal Service Issues Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses Stamps
Stamps depicting the beauty, mystery and romance of lighthouses that have fascinated and enchanted people for centuries continue in 2021 with the issuance of Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, the latest in the Postal Service’s continuing series of lighthouse stamps. The Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses stamps are now being sold at Post Office locations nationwide and online at usps.com/lighthousestamp.
The stamp dedication took place at the Twin Lights State Historic Site in the Navesink Highlands of New Jersey — which is among the highest points along the Eastern Seaboard, guarding the entrance to New York Harbor.
* * *
Celebrate Local Lighthouses Throughout St. Mary’s County (MD) During National Lighthouse Weekend
Join the St. Mary’s County Museum Division in celebrating National Lighthouse Weekend, Saturday, Aug. 7 through Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, at Piney Point Lighthouse in Piney Point and Blackistone Lighthouse on St. Clement’s Island, near Colton’s Point.
Special activities and tours will be available at both locations during the entire weekend.
* * *
Where history lives: St. Augustine Lighthouse (FL) exhibit showcases Coast Guard in WWII
St. Augustine may have seemed a long way from the fighting of World War II, but a St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum exhibit shows how close the war was. To disrupt commerce and the allied war effort, the navy of Nazi Germany sent submarines to patrol the East Coast of the United States and sink shipping.
A dramatic example of this is featured in the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum with an exhibit of the sinking of the oil tanker SS Gulfamerica off the coast of Jacksonville on April 10, 1942. Silhouetted by the lights of Jacksonville Beach, the ship was torpedoed by German submarine U-123, causing the deaths of 19 men.
* * *
Filming for Netflix show “The Crown” takes place at Covesea Skerries Lighthouse (Scotland)
Filming for the hit show The Crown has continued around Covesea Skerries Lighthouse near Lossiemouth. Imelda Staunton, who’s taken over the role of the Queen, shot several scenes on the beach below.
Meanwhile, the actress and actor believed to be portraying Princess Anne and her husband Timothy Lawrence, were also on hand. ‘Anne’ is thought to have also been filmed inside Covesea Lighthouse. In real life the Princess is known to be a fan of lighthouses and has visited almost every one around the British coast.
* * *
Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society (NY) awarded a Preserve New York Grant
Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society (HALPS) is one of this year’s Preserve New York (PNY) grantees. Their grant of $10,000 will fund a Building Condition Report for the historic lighthouse.
Featured by the Preservation League as a 2020-2021 Seven to Save site, and the subject of a 2020 Technical Assistance Grant to fund an Engineering Structural Analysis, the Lighthouse is ready for the next phase of preservation planning. A $10,000 Preserve New York grant will enable HALPS to hire Proper & O’Leary Engineering, DPC to conduct a Building Condition Report, following up on the findings from their mostly underwater Engineering Structural Analysis to include inspection of the main lighthouse structure, a scope of priority repairs and corrective actions, and Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) construction cost estimates for each work phase. This will help position HALPS to launch a capital campaign to fund the work.
* * *
Whitehaven 19th century harbor lighthouses on England’s west coast to be restored
Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners said work will begin on August 16 after money was sourced from a Sellafield fund and donations from local residents and businesses. Whitehaven Town Council said the two lighthouses are “iconic landmarks.” The lighthouse on the west pier was completed in 1839 while the north pier’s was built two years later.
The ironwork, timber, glazing and masonry work of each tower will be restored with the work due to be completed by mid-October, a spokesman for the commissioners said.
* * *
Drop anchor because the concert from atop Huntington Lighthouse (NY) returns Sept. 4
After a two-year hiatus, “the only event where live bands play from the rooftop of a working lighthouse in the world” returns half a mile from dry land in the Huntington Bay.
The Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society‘s Musicfest, first held in 2006, has been green-lighted for Saturday, Sept 4. The unique event draws over 1,000 boats from across the island and Connecticut, according to Pamela Setchell, the preservation society’s president.
* * *
Beachy Head (England) cliff fall leaves Belle Tout Lighthouse at risk of being moved further inland
A major cliff fall has sent several tons of chalk crashing from Beachy Head, threatening the future of a lighthouse overlooking the landmark. The Belle Tout lighthouse could have to be moved further away from the edge after a “worrying” cliff fall at the East Sussex landmark – just 20 years after it was first moved inland.
The lighthouse, now used as a bed and breakfast, has just “a few decades” left before erosion in the area becomes critical and it has to be pushed back for a second time, the owner said. The lighthouse was last moved back from the cliff edge in 1999.
* * *
Keeper’s house at Loop Head Lighthouse (Ireland) to be restored
One of West Clare’s most popular tourist attractions will see considerable renovation and development as part of a plan focused on sustainability growth. The keeper’s cottage at Loop Head Lighthouse, which dates back to the mid-19th century, will be renovated and repaired to high conservation standards.14
Works will include the repair of the existing roof and sash windows and the making safe of internal electrical works. Custy Construction has been contracted by Clare County Council to carry out the works.
* * *
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