Greens Ledge Light, which was built in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1902, is a cast-iron lighthouse tower on a cylindrical cast-iron concrete-filled foundation. It’s typical of offshore lighthouses built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Male keepers lived inside the lighthouse tower. Under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, the lighthouse was auctioned in 2016. The high bid was placed by a group of local residents that included the Pettee family. They formed a 501 (c)3 organization, the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society.
Tim Pettee, who is president of the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, grew up in Westport, Connecticut, and has been a resident of Rowayton, Connecticut, since 2014. Tim’s son Alex Pettee is the treasurer of the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society. This is an edited version of an interview that was first heard in episode 83 in October 2020.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:55 — 22.6MB) | Embed
U.S. Lighthouse Society Historian Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of 24 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is a past president of 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’s weekly podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org