London’s only lighthouse will beam once more
London’s only lighthouse — at Trinity Buoy Wharf near Canning Town — will emit a beam, for the first time since it closed for duty in the late 19th century. Sonic Ray is an installation by Artangel that will project a beam from the lighthouse, across the river to North Greenwich and Richard Wilson’s cleaved ship sculpture, Slice of Reality.
The beam of light — which will appear from dusk Wednesdays till Sundays, from September 30 until November 21 — will encode and transmit the sound of Longplayer, Jem Finer’s 1,000 year-long musical composition, which has been playing in Trinity Buoy Wharf Lighthouse since midday on 31 December 1999. Slice of Reality will then be used as a ‘listening’ post for the composition.
Listen to an interview with composer Jem Finer about “Longplayer” on Light Hearted, the USLHS podcast:
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Cape Hatteras National Seashore (NC) asking for public comment on lighthouse repairs, surrounding landscapes
A project is underway by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore as they plan to repair the lighthouse and surrounding landscape. The public will have a 30-day comment period where they can voice issues and concerns they have regarding the lighthouse. The comment period begins Sept. 17 and will end on Oct. 17.
The Seashore says the repair project is necessary because of the deterioration to the interior and exterior of the lighthouse. They feel there are missing character-defining features that have diminished the integrity of the lighthouse. Unclear circulation routes and patches of bare soil have been a result of the heavy visitation to the site.
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Maine Lighthouse Museum open house on Sunday to include art unveiling, sea shanties
The Maine Lighthouse Museum invites the public to its open house on Sunday, September 26, at the museum, located at 1 Park Drive, in Rockland. The open house begins at 1 p.m. Brian Dunn will be singing sea shanties until 3 p.m., when staff will unveil two new exhibits — “The Lighthouse” and “The Launching,” both given to the museum by Barnaby Porter.
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Election official flies ballot box to 27 lighthouses in British Columbia, Canada
Vlasta Booth, who usually runs a chocolate shop in Victoria, delivered ballots to 27 lighthouses off the coast of B.C., by chopper last week. The mother of two braved fog and stormy weather, and the risk that her portable ballot box might become sodden with ocean spray, to ensure that B.C. lighthouse personnel could cast their votes before the deadline.
Wearing a survival suit, she landed on some of the remotest locations in Canada, including a “rock” in the middle of the ocean. “It is hard to put into words how awesome this experience is,” Booth said. “We met light keepers that have been doing this work for several decades … and they themselves have never been to all 27 of them. It is truly a grand tour.”
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Harbor Springs Area Historical Society to host Little Traverse Lighthouse (MI) tours
The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society has announced the return of its popular tour of the Little Traverse Lighthouse on Harbor Point. Last held in 2017, this year the tour has been extended to 75 minutes and tour times are available on both Oct. 1 and 2, 2021. The society will also welcome Ric Mixter for a lecture about “Offshore Outposts” at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 1.
Ticket sales are now open and reservations can be made by calling (231) 526-9771. Tours run in roughly half-hour increments in the afternoon on Friday and throughout the day on Saturday, visit HarborSpringsHistory.org/events to see a full list of available tour times.
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Lighthouse restoration to cost Port Washington (WI) $1.7 million
It will cost the City of Port Washington, Wisconsin, $1.7 million to repaint and repair its lighthouse, Mayor Ted Neitzke announced Tuesday. That amount, said Neitzke, includes everything that is needed, including reinforcing the steel structure, repainting it, replacing the broken porthole windows and pouring a new concrete base that will match the recently repaired breakwater.
The Port lighthouse has been a symbol of the city for decades. Built in 1935 for $38,000, the Art Deco-style lighthouse consists of a metal tower that rests on a 20-foot-square cement base that has large arches on each of its faces.
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One-man outdoor show benefits Montauk Lighthouse (NY)
A special benefit one-man show Saturday will donate proceeds toward the preservation of the Montauk Lighthouse. Gabriel Portuondo will perform “The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” outdoors at the lighthouse at 6:30 p.m.
According to a release, the epic ballad, written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge during the Romantic era and published in 1798, comes to life in this mysterious and spellbinding journey starring Gabriel Portuondo.
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Scottish lighthouse keeper Ian Ramon dies, aged 85
With holes in his jumper and no shoes on his feet, you can hardly imagine a young Ian Ramon would grow up to dine with the Queen. Yet despite a difficult start in life – fostered from birth with no knowledge of his family – he’d become a man known for his relentless hard work and his commitment to Fort William and Ardnamurchan.
In 1974 Ian became local assistant lighthouse keeper for Ardnamurchan. The 152-stair tower would become his pride and joy, serving for 14 years before the station became automated in 1988. Because of its location as the westernmost point in Scotland the Queen and her family would often sail past on the royal yacht.
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Tortugas Harbor Lighthouse (FL) is back
The Dry Tortugas Lighthouse at Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in Florida was taken down piece by piece in October 2020 and shipped off to Robinson Iron in Alabama for conservation work. The iron-plated lighthouse had been exposed to the elements and the effects of salty ocean air since its construction in 1876. Over its lifetime, the iron had corroded leading to significant deterioration in many areas, particularly around its base.
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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