News of the week September 9, 2022
One Man’s Quest to Save a 117-Year-Old Storm-Battered Graves (MA) Lighthouse
On a windy January afternoon, our boat covers the nine miles from Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina to its offshore mooring in a swift 35 minutes, plunging five feet down and back up over waves that look like rolling hills in Vermont. We have come to Graves Light Station on a good day. A few years ago, the mooring was ripped out of the ocean floor by a gale, and a breaker dragged Dave Waller’s boat, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter he bought used, into the shoal below the lighthouse.
* * *
Delays restoring Stepping Stones (NY) Lighthouse pit preservationists against N. Hempstead officials
Local preservationists are calling on the Town of North Hempstead to restore the nearly 150-year-old Stepping Stones Lighthouse, which they fear will meet a grim fate if officials don’t take action to reverse its decay.
“Forces of nature could care less about finances, politics and everything else,” said Robert Lincoln, chairman of a Great Neck Historical Society committee overseeing the lighthouse’s restoration. “Every storm that comes through eats away at the lighthouse.”
* * *
Ocracoke N.C. Lighthouse refurbishment gets OK to proceed
The National Park Service has been appropriated $2 million to renovate the Ocracoke Light Station complex.
Dave Hallac, superintendent of the Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said the money was included in a recently passed Congressional bill called the Disaster Supplement for 2022.
* * *
Historic Greens Ledge, CT lighthouse opens to public for the first time in 120 years
NORWALK — For the first time in 120 years, the public will have a chance to tour the recently restored Greens Ledge Light later this month.
The Norwalk Seaport Association and the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society are offering tours of the historic spark plug lighthouse on Sept. 17 and 18. Tickets are being sold online for $60 each.
* * *
More repairs coming to historic Port Washington Breakwater (WI) lighthouse
PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — The City of Port Washington is getting ready for repair and preservation work on their historic lighthouse after safety upgrades wrapped up in 2020.
The city is hosting a public information meeting regarding the repairs on Sept. 14 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers of City Hall at 100 W. Grand Ave. The city said in a statement that officials will present a plan for the repairs and then give residents the chance to speak up and ask questions.
* * *
Things to Do: Maine Lighthouse Day
Who doesn’t love a lighthouse? The United States Coast Guard, the Maine Office of Tourism and the American Lighthouse Foundation sure do, and they’re presenting the annual Maine Lighthouse Day during which you can get up close and personal with several lighthouses across the state. Most will be open for interior tours, so be ready to climb some stairs to see gorgeous views. A partial list of participating lighthouses includes Burnt Boat Harbor, Curtis Island, Doubling Point, Dyce Head, Fort Point, Goat Island, Grindle Point, Moose Peak, Owls Head, Pemaquid Point, Bug Light, Portland Head, Spring Point and West Quoddy. Check the Lighthouse Foundation site for updates and then make a plan to hit one or more on Saturday.
Maine Open Lighthouse Day
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Statewide. lighthousefoundation.org/maine-open-lighthouse-day
* * *
Visionary architect of Sullivan’s Island (SC) lighthouse remembered
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — John “Jack” Lewis Graham III, the under-the-radar designer and draftsman who dreamed up the Charleston Light that defines Charleston Harbor, died June 26 in Salisbury, Md. He was 88.
A memorial service is planned Sept. 18 in Maryland.
* * *
Hooper Island, MD lighthouse is up for auction. So far, no one wants it.
Nobody wants it.
Not the nonprofits or preservationists. Not education agencies or community development groups or fishermen or lighthouse enthusiasts.
Maybe that’s because the price tag for the Hooper Island Lighthouse is $15,000, a buyer would have to spend considerable money fixing it up, and, according to the listing, it’s in a Navy-controlled “danger area.”
* * *
Woman drowned after she was swept off rocks by waves as she took picture of Beachy Head (UK) lighthouse
A woman has drowned after she was dramatically swept out to sea after trying to take photos of a famous lighthouse.
Dora Mango, 26, died near Beachy Head in Eastbourne, Sussex on October 24 during a trip up from Surrey when she was swept off a rock by a crashing wave and found face-down in the sea soon after, an inquest heard last week.
* * *
Reminder! The #USLHSartchallange (west coast division) is still running on Instagram. Point Cabrillo is really making waves with multiple entries.
Then there’s this brilliant point of view as if through a Fresnel lens!
There’s still time to enter our contest. Submissions need to be tagged with #uslhsartchallange and posted by Sept 18. Winner gets their artwork featured on all USLHS social media platforms!
* * *
Finally, we would like to send our condolences to the family and friends of Shawn Driscoll.
Per the Maine Lighthouse Museum FB page, they sent out a notice of the loss of “our great friend and board member…”
The USLHS knows that we need more people helping to preserve our nation’s historic lighthouses; with very loss, it hurts us all. We send our condolences to his family and friends.
* * *
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