This 94-year-old lighthouse keeper climbs 17 stories each week (NJ)
How does the prospect of climbing 228 steps — the equivalent of 17 stories — on a winding staircase to the top of a historic lighthouse sound? Buddy Grover, 94 years of age, makes this trip every week as part of his everyday duties.
Grover is a volunteer lighthouse keeper at the Absecon Lighthouse, located in southern New Jersey. The lighthouse has a few notable features — it’s the tallest lighthouse in the state and the third tallest in the country. And it’s stood there since 1857. And for his part, Grover has been making the walk every week since he was 82.
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Lighthouse climbing and other offerings available at Bodie Island, Ocracoke and Cape Hatteras (NC)
Lighting the Way for 150 Years is an educational program offered at the Bodie Island Lighthouse, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Ocracoke Lighthouse in North Carolina. The time at all three locations is 11 to 11:30 a.m.
At Bodie Island, the program is offered on Wednesday and Thursday. Meet on the back porch of the keeper’s quarters. On Ocracoke, the program is offered Tuesday and Thursday. Meet on the grounds of the Ocracoke Lighthouse. At the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the program is offered Monday through Friday. Meet at the Hatteras Island Visitor Center Pavilion at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Details, history, and current restoration efforts are topics.
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Port Washington (WI) gets a little help with lighthouse restoration
Efforts to restore the Port Washington lighthouse took a step forward recently when the city was awarded a $40,000 grant from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program. The grant will help pay for architectural and engineering services for the restoration program, Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said.
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Police arrest two women after security cameras spot them damaging Grand Haven lighthouse (MI)
Two Grand Rapids women were arrested Thursday, April 28, after being caught on security cameras allegedly scratching graffiti on Grand Haven’s South Pierhead Inner Lighthouse.
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Historic Point Clark Lighthouse (Ontario, Canada) receives grant to help museum shine bright
On Monday, April 25th, Huron-Bruce M.P.P. Lisa Thompson met with Council and staff members from the Township of Huron-Kinloss at the Point Clark Lighthouse to award them with an Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) Resilient Communities Fund grant. The $117,100 investment in the national landmark’s museum will transform the visitor experience in time for the 2023 tourism season.
“Preserving our history is so very important,” said Thompson. “Supporting an initiative that both honours heritage while making it more engaging for those visiting this spectacular National Historic Site is the ideal purpose for Ontario Trillium Foundation funding.”
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Lighthouse keeper couple returns to Five Finger (Alaska)
A husband and wife have come back to spend their summer taking care of the Five Finger Lighthouse. John and Pat Jans maintain a “home base” or “nest” high in the mountains of Colorado, but Southeast also takes up special space in their hearts.
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Why does Barnegat Lighthouse (NJ) look like it’s about to launch into space?
At first glance from a distance, the scaffolding that encases Old Barney is so dense and imposing that one might think the Jersey Shore landmark has been demolished and replaced by an oceanfront high-rise under construction. On closer inspection, the structure and silhouette of Barnegat Lighthouse within bear a slight resemblance to a launch tower with its rocket inside, ready to blast off into the heavens above Long Beach Island.
Of course, the mid-19th century lighthouse is most certainly still inside there — undergoing a $1.3 million face-lift that will keep this historic 172-foot beacon closed through the summer and until at least October, so it can remain open for future visitors in the decades to come.
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Construction begins for Lighthouse Park, which pays homage to Cleveland’s original lighthouse (OH)
Construction for Lighthouse Park, which pays homage to Cleveland’s original lighthouse that stood at the corner of West 9th Street and Main Avenue, is underway. Lighthouse Park will feature seating, new landscaping, lighting and other amenities. The only remnants of the lighthouse that remain today are six steps and wall of bricks.
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Cape Jaffa Lighthouse (Australia) tales continue to intrigue years after making the keeper’s cottage home
The view of Cape Jaffa Lighthouse from Alison Stillwell’s kitchen window constantly stirs questions within her. Like how did people live there? Why did they do it?
Known as the Shipwreck Coast, the rocky coastline between Adelaide and Melbourne claimed many lives and a number of large ships. “Some of those storms would have been horrendous,” Alison says.
Website for Cape Jaffa Lighthouse
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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