Newport’s Iconic Castle Hill Lighthouse (RI) gets an overdue makeover
As the setting for countless proposals, wedding shoots and tourist photos, the Castle Hill Light has long been a proud symbol of Newport, Rhode Island. In March, the Castle Hill Inn signed a five-year agreement to maintain the lighthouse. A painting crew washed the 1890 structure and applied three layers of paint to the walls and countless coats of Rustoleum to the metal railing and lantern at the top. The job was completed in time for wedding season at a cost of around $17,000.
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Norwalk (CT) Oyster Festival returns Sept. 10-12
Three days of fun, food, and dazzling free entertainment on multiple stages, plus a myriad of special events are just some of the activities planned for the 43rd annual 2021 Norwalk Oyster Festival hosted by the Norwalk Seaport Association at the 35-acre Veteran’s Memorial Park in Norwalk, Connecticut. The event raises funds to support the historic Sheffield Island Lighthouse in Norwalk.
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Preservationists seek help to restore Dutch Island Lighthouse (RI)
The Dutch Island Lighthouse Society in Rhode Island is undertaking after 14 years the repainting of this 1827 beacon, which was at one time almost lost to the waves of change except for the commitment of local lighthouse and history enthusiasts. The lighthouse is located on 81-acre Dutch Island situated in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay and between Jamestown and Saunderstown village of North Kingstown. The work is expected to cost nearly $80,000.
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St. Augustine Lighthouse (FL) closed for restoration
The St. Augustine Lighthouse tower was closed for climbing Tuesday as part of a restoration project, but rooms at the base of the tower and the surrounding grounds and buildings are still open to visitors.
The project will include painting the inside and outside of the lighthouse tower and restoring original metal work, according to a press release from the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum, a nonprofit.
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Burnt Island Lighthouse (ME) fully restored in time to celebrate its bicentennial
The restoration of a Maine lighthouse has been completed just in time to celebrate its bicentennial. Burnt Island Light Station off the coast of Boothbay Harbor is now shining as it did for decades when keepers and their families used to live there to man the lighthouse. The restoration of the lighthouse took nearly three decades of planning, fundraising and work.
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Restoration of South Haven (MI) lighthouse’s six portholes begins
Six years ago, the Historical Association of South Haven embarked on an ambitious $300,000 fundraising drive to restore the town’s historic lighthouse. With the goal realized in less than a year and the the popular lakeshore landmark restored to its former glory in 2017, the historical group is now turning its attention to providing light to the interior of the beacon, whose Fresnel lens guided sailors to South Haven’s harbor for more than a century.
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Town of Aquinnah (MA) looking for new “keeper” for Gay Head Lighthouse
Gay Head Lighthouse, at the western end of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, is looking for a new (non-resident) keeper. The Gay Head Lighthouse Advisory Committee, is conducting interviews with candidates. The former keeper, Richard Skidmore, retired in July after a 30-year career.
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Coast Guard Holds Lighthouse Rededication Ceremony in San Diego, CA
The Coast Guard held a rededication ceremony on August 20 at the New Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego, the Coast Guard 11th District said in a release. The rededication is the official recognition of the light station’s service career and honors its history as a Coast Guard navigational aid.
“Every time you see this light flash, know that lives are being saved, trade and travelers are flowing through our marine transit system, illegal drugs are prevented from entering our great nation and sailors are welcomed home,” said Capt. Timothy J. Barelli, the Coast Guard Sector San Diego commander.
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Urgent warning after crack emerges in cliff edge near Belle Tout lighthouse (England)
The Coastguard has warned visitors of a popular tourist destination in southeastern England to “stay away” from the cliff edge after another large crack was spotted. People visiting Birling Gap and Belle Tout lighthouse have been urged to stay away from cliff edges and bases after a large crack was seen in a section cutting into the old path to the east of the lighthouse. It is the same section of pathway that was the scene of a huge cliff fall earlier this month.
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Shining bright for 230 years – behind the scenes of a Norfolk (England) icon
Happisburgh Lighthouse is the oldest working light in East Anglia, and the only independently run lighthouse in Great Britain. The light helps vessels navigate the channel between the coastline and the 10-mile-long Haisborough Sands shoal about a mile out to sea. After lighthouse authority Trinity House announced Happisburgh Lighthouse was “surplus to its needs” in 1987, a campaign to form the trust began.
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Lighthouse vessel marking shipping English Channel lanes replaced with buoy
A ship that acted as a lighthouse in the English Channel to mark out shipping lanes after a disastrous oil spill has been replaced by a buoy. The Channel Lightvessel was installed near Alderney after an oil tanker ran aground in Brittany and split in two. The vessel has now been replaced by a permanent buoy.
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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