News of the week October 7, 2022
138-year-old Sanibel (FL) lighthouse survives Hurricane Ian, but not unscathed
The historic Sanibel Island Lighthouse has weathered many a hurricane, but the fortitude of the skeleton lighthouse was put to the test once more when Hurricane Ian roared ashore.
The high-end Category 4 hurricane swept through the area on Sept. 28, destroying countless buildings and cutting off the island from the mainland when it collapsed the causeway. At the easternmost point of the island, the house where the lighthouse caretakers used to live until 1949 was nowhere to be seen from the area in photos following the storm. But the 98-foot lighthouse remained.
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Lantern Room at top of Scituate (MA) Lighthouse to be removed
SCITUATE – The top of Scituate Lighthouse will be gone Thursday morning. Experts found safety and structural concerns with the Lantern Room.
Built in 1811, it’s one of the oldest lighthouses in the United States and still works as an aide to navigation. According to the Scituate Historical Society, the last major work done on the lighthouse and the Lantern Room was in the 1930s.
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Lakeside-Marblehead (OH) to hold Lighthouse Festival
MARBLEHEAD — The 26th Annual Lakeside-Marblehead Lighthouse Festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8.
This free, peninsula-wide event features fun for the whole family including tours of the Marblehead Lighthouse and the Wolcott Keeper’s House, live entertainment, children’s games and crafts, a pumpkin-decorating contest, more than 100 arts and crafts vendors, a farmers market and hayrides in Lakeside Chautauqua and the Village of Marblehead.
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Barnegat (NJ) Lighthouse to go back into service on Oct. 29, DEP says
BARNEGAT LIGHT – Old Barney will be relit on the 10th anniversary of superstorm Sandy after undergoing a $1.3 million facelift this past summer, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The activation of its new lantern is to occur sometime between 6:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Oct 29, and will coincide with a campfire storytelling event from about the same time to 9 p.m. on that Saturday, said Caryn Shinske, a DEP spokeswoman. Sunset is expected to occur at about 5:59 p.m. that date.
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Plum Island (NY) Lighthouse Gets A Facelift
NORTH FORK, NY — The Plum Island Lighthouse is set for a facelift.
According to Rep. Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun preparation work for an iron works repair project at the lighthouse. The repairs were made possible by the securing of $1.5 million in federal funds in 2019 for DHS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stabilize the lighthouse, Zeldin said.
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Few People Know One Of Northern California’s Most Popular Lighthouses Is Hiding A Dark And Terrifying Secret
If you’ve lived or traveled in California for any significant length of time, you know that the landscape is peppered with historic lighthouses along the coast, all the way from the southern border with Mexico, to the northern border with Oregon. And each one possesses its own unique aspects and history. What you might not know is that there is one popular Northern California lighthouse holding a dark secret.
The Point Sur Lighthouse is located along Highway 1 in Big Sur, CA, approximately a 45-minute drive from the city of Monterey proper (the official address is in Monterey).
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Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey to Feature Historic Navesink Twin Lights
The annual Light House Challenge of New Jersey will be held this year on Saturday, Oct. 15 and Sunday, Oct. 16. This is a big weekend of fresh air, exercise, great views and family fun as you visit New Jersey’s many lighthouses that dot the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay.
The Twin Lights Historical Society is proud that, once again, the Twin Lights Historic Site and National Park Service’s Sandy Hook Lighthouse will be a part of the challenge.
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Pensacola (FL) Lighthouse and Maritime Museum hosting 2nd Annual Lighthouse Luau
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -Pensacola Lighthouse and Maritime Museum is hosting their 2nd Annual Lighthouse Luau.
A Tiki-themed fundraiser that will support our mission of “Preserving the past to Enlighten our Future.” The event will include a catered dinner, desserts, drinks, live music, games & activities, and a fundraising auction.
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Owendale-Gagetown students take field trip to the Point Aux Barques (MI) Lighthouse
On Sept. 28, the Owendale-Gagetown sixth-grade students went on a field trip to the Point Aux Barques Lighthouse and Huron County Nature Center.
This was a fun-filled day learning about the lighthouse history along with animals and plants found in our county.
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The dramatic hike that takes you to an iconic Cape Brett, New Zealand lighthouse
It looks like any other forested pass on any other trail. I’ve been walking for five hours, and rainforest wraps around me. The trail is climbing towards an obvious notch in the ridge, where I’m expecting to step on to the pass and find an ordinary scene – another slope of forest rolling away ahead of me.
But nothing is ordinary here. I’m hiking on the Cape Brett Track, which runs like an underline beneath New Zealand’s famed Bay of Islands, following the high line of the cape’s ridge to a lighthouse on its point. I will stay the night in the former lighthouse-keeper’s cottage before returning the following day.
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The U.S. Lighthouse Society is running the next division of the Art Challenge on Insagram! We are featuring the Great Lakes region through October 29, 2022. To submit your art, or vote for your favorite, go to Instagram and search #uslhsartchallenge
And finally,
Congratulations go to Lilly Goldberg for winning the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s Fog Horn Challenge!
A one year membership and other prizes were donated by a member. Congratulations again!
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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