Michigan lighthouses get grants for preservation efforts
Two historic Michigan lighthouses are receiving funds to focus on long-term preservation efforts to keep lights shining bright on Lake Michigan. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. announced the recipients of the $100,000 Lighthouse Assistance Program grants from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office in a press release on Thursday.
Near Ludington, the Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association will use a $40,000 MLAP grant and $20,000 match amount to hire a contractor to complete a historic structures report for the Big Sable Point Light Station. The City of Grand Haven will use the $60,000 grant and $76,409 match amount to hire a contractor to rehabilitate the Grand Haven South Pier Entrance and inner lights.
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Barnegat Lighthouse (NJ) to close this summer for renovations
Barnegat Lighthouse will be closed all summer as it undergoes a total restoration, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced on Friday. The lighthouse, located at the northernmost tip of Long Beach Island, will close to visitors on March 14 and remain closed through October. It will not light up during this time, and will be enclosed in scaffolding. The surrounding park will remain open.
The $1.3 million renovations will include “a complete exterior restoration of the lighthouse, masonry recoating and repairs to the brick facade, interior lantern steel platform repairs, roof repairs and the installation of new windows,” the DEP said.
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Cape Egmont Lighthouse (New Zealand) to get spruce up
Cape Egmont Lighthouse has been surrounded by scaffolding ahead of a much-needed refresh. Scaffolding now surrounding the lighthouse, on Cape Rd in Pungarehu, was in the process of being finished this week, with maintenance work starting on Monday . The work is expected to take three to four weeks.
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Oregon’s Heceta Head Lighthouse Celebrates 128 Years, March 30
Way back in 1892, construction began on what would become a major icon for the Oregon coast. On March 30, 1894, the Heceta Head Lighthouse was finished and lit up for the first time, spending the next 80 or so years guiding mariners away from a dangerous reef and serving as marker for the entrance to Florence’s Siuslaw River.
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City of Port Washington (WI) on the hook for cost of lighthouse work
The City of Port Washington, Wisconsin, will be responsible for the almost $2 million in renovations and repairs the Port Washington Breakwater Lighthouse needs, Mayor Ted Neitzke said. The city has searched for grants and other funding sources to pay for the work, he said, but hasn’t found any.
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Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society in new agreement with the Bahamas Port Department
The Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society, a Bahamian non-profit organization, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding last month with the Bahamas Port Department, Ministry of Transport and Housing. The signing on February 18 represents the first time the Port Department has partnered with a community-based organization to oversee a Bahamian lighthouse. The agreement encourages the Port Department to secure a yearly upkeep and maintenance budget for the Light Station.
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Astoria’s Lightship Columbia (OR) Closer to Returning to North Oregon Coast Moorings
The Columbia River Maritime Museum (CRMM) has not had the famed Lightship Columbia gracing its moorings since October, as the beautiful vessel and the also-iconic Large Navigational Buoy were whisked away this fall to undergo a good deal of refurbishing.
The good news is that they’re coming back to their respective spots in the north Oregon coast harbor town shortly. Spring will be a good time for Astoria history buffs.
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Nantucket Lightship LV-112 (MA) slated for $250,000 grant for repair
Boston’s Community Preservation Committee has recommended a $250,000 grant to the U.S. Lightship Museum to repair interior structural elements of LV-112 Nantucket Lightship.
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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