News of the week June 23, 2023
Newbury Port “Plum Island” (MA) Light Front Door Restored
The front door of the Plum Island Lighthouse in northeastern Massachusetts (also known as Newburyport Harbor Light) was restored recently by volunteers of Friends of Plum Island Light. The lighthouse is owned by the city of Newburyport and is leased to the Friends, who serve as stewards of and provide maintenance and historic interpretation of the lighthouse structure and historic site.
The 50-foot wooden lighthouse tower marks the entrance of the Merrimack River from the Atlantic Ocean and was built in 1898. The historic door, consisting of a simple plank exterior combined with a stained natural wood interior, had become warped and needed new hinges. The door was removed and the outer planking was leveled and sanded. New heavy duty hinges were attached and a new coat of paint was applied to the entire exterior.
The door was then rehung, adjusted, and made ready for the summer’s monthly open house tours that are provided by the Friends. More information on the Friends can be found at https://www.friendsofplumislandlight.org
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Vandals cause thousands in damage at Oregon’s Heceta Head Lighthouse, OR
Vandals have damaged one of Oregon’s most iconic lighthouses. Oregon State Police want the public’s help in identifying the suspects who carried out the vandalism at Heceta Head Lighthouse last week.
Surveillance video footage shows four people approaching the lighthouse and its buildings on June 14 at 8:43 p.m. One had a can of spray paint. Two others broke a window and attempted entry. They all fled when someone came upon them.
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Volunteers find long-forgotten Owl’s Head, ME, lighthouse keeper’s gravesite
When Owls Head Lighthouse Keeper Capt. Llewelyn Norwood died in April 1911, his body was supposed to be interred with the rest of his family in Hancock County.
But it was mud season.
With the roads impassable, Norwood’s remains were temporarily planted in a tiny cemetery not far from where he tended the light.
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Future of East Point N.J. lighthouse in doubt as keepers battle state officials, erosion
Decades of volunteer work and management by the Maurice River Historical Society have kept the 174-year-old East Point Lighthouse – New Jersey’s second-oldest lighthouse-afloat and open year-round for public tours.
But, the historical society says the future of the lighthouse is uncertain because of both encroaching tides that flood the building and pushback for the state Department of Environmental Protection over the site’s leasing agreement.
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Cheboygan Front Range Lighthouse, MI, open for season with new upgrades and ongoing restoration
CHEBOYGAN — There’s a lighthouse in downtown Cheboygan. It’s tucked behind the Eagle’s Building on Main Street, on the Cheboygan River, and has been an active aid to navigation since it was built in 1880.
During the lumbering days, the Front Range Lighthouse was essential to vessels that came to ship lumber from the many mills along the Cheboygan River.
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Tour an operating lighthouse in this Lake Michigan town
ST. JOSEPH, MI — Two things you can’t miss on a beach trip to St. Joseph: The famed black and white Outer Lighthouse and red and white Inner Lighthouse.
Visitors can get a peek inside one of them.
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These Maine lighthouse dogs were very good boys
PORTLAND, Maine — This state boasts 65 picturesque lighthouses. Each blinking tower is now fully automated but at one time, each required human caretakers to keep the vital beacons polished and burning through fog, rain and snow.
A lot of dogs helped, too.
There are no records showing how many Maine lighthouse keepers had canine assistants, but here are stories about three of them. Two were credited with saving human lives. One received a medal. All of them were very good boys. (Yes, they were.)
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Oswego’s (NY) famous Lighthouse tours to resume June 23
Oswego’s famous lighthouse tours are set to begin soon!
On Friday, June 23, the H. Lee White Maritime Museum will offer tours of the city’s iconic National Register Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse.
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A view from Point Arena (CA), the Pacific Coast’s tallest lighthouse
POINT ARENA, Calif. — Piercing through the waves along the Mendocino coast are a series of treacherous rocks that have haunted sea captains for over a hundred years. To warn ships, you need a really tall lighthouse and that is exactly what you’ll find at Point Arena.
“It is actually the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast. It is 115 feet from the base to the top and about 155 feet from the mean low tide,” said Point Arena lighthouse keeper Mark Hancock.
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Montauk (NY) Lighthouse Revetment Is Done
The federal Army Corps of Engineers has completed, ahead of schedule, an extensive reconstruction of the stone revetment that wraps around Montauk Point, protecting the famed Lighthouse there, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday.
The project, begun in March 2021, saw the removal and reuse of existing five and 10-ton armor stones and the placement of new 10 and 15-ton stones along approximately 1,000 linear feet of the revetment, or sea wall, and slope stabilization with terracing and vegetation above its upper crest. Over the years, the Montauk Historical Society, which owns the property, has extended the rock bulwark to about 1,300 feet in length.
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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