Roanoke River added to Doomsday List

We have added North Carolina’s Roanoke River Lighthouse to our Doomsday List of endangered lighthouses. Our records indicate that the owner who inherited the property declined several generous offers in 2001. It was then listed for sale with a realtor and we’ve heard nothing since. The 1887 lighthouse once stood offshore in Abermarle Sound and deactivated in 1941. In 1955 it was sold and moved to property in Edenton, North Carolina where it has stood ever since. In 2003, Hurricane Isabel produced a storm surge that flooded several homes near the lighthouse that had to be codemmed and destroyed. The lighthouse may have also suffered damage, but verification of that cannot be made. However, it is clear that the lighthouse is now neglected by its private owner it is deteriorating rapidly. In some cases, private ownership is the only thing that can save a lighthouse. However, when the owner dies, their heirs may not have the same interest in historic preservation as the original owner.

Point Arena Gets Money

The State of California has awarded a $200,000 grant to Save the Light, Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers for restoration and preservation of the lighthouse. Hopefully other states will follow the example set by California and step forward to save lighthouses in their states.

Oregon Beacon Renewed

Oregon’s Yaquina Head Lighthouse looks a lot different as it underwent recent restoration. The first ever restoration of the 130-year lighthouse was recently completed, a project that started last December. The lighthouse exterior has been repainted, ironwork repaired, glass in the lantern room replaced and the lantern room dome was repaired. As well as the tower, outbuildings at the light station also received restoration. Keeping the lighthouse under wraps was a problem during the winter storms which ripped the protective covering off leaving the restoration crew to resort to parachute cloth. So, if you guessed the name of the lighthouse that was all wrapped up and the photo of the lantern room in wraps on page 5 of this issue as Yaquina Head Light in Oregon, you were right. The photograph of Yaquina Head Light under wraps is courtesy of Jane Maines and the photo of the lantern room was courtesy of George M. Collins.

New Dungeness To Stay Lit

Sequim Washington’s New Dungeness Lighthouse will remain lit in spite of a previous decision by the Coast Guard to turn it off. Under an agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard, the New Dungeness Light Station has agreed to pay for the repairs to the cable that delivers power to the lighthouse and install a back up generator at the station.

West Point To Open and Undergo Restoration

Now that Washington state’s Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation owns West Point Lighthouse, they intend to open the station this year for limited tours. The tours are scheduled for 11:30am and 4:00am on August 12 and 20. A shuttle bus will take visitors to the lighthouse for a $1 round trip ticket fee. A $600,000 restoration for the keeper’s quarters and other buildings at the site is slated to take place next spring.

Coast Guard vessels visit China

The USCG Cutter Rush and the USCG Buoy Tender Sequoia have become the first United States Coast Guard vessels to visit China since World War II. The visit is part of a joint Chinese and United States effort to assist each other in combating transitional crimes, illegal immigration and other law enforcement activities as part of a bilateral cooperation agreement to combat crime.

Table Bluff Lighthouse Painting Fiasco

The Table Bluff Lighthouse in Humboldt, California, will be painted, maybe. Last year the first bid to paint the tower was deemed too high and rejected. Then after no one else could be found to do the work, a contract, for an even higher amount, was awarded to another firm. However, when the time came to do the work, the contractor backed out of the project. A new contractor was hired and the work is supposed to be done by late August. The lighthouse built in 1892 was deactivated in 1953. The keeper’s house was torn down and the tower was sold and moved from South Spit near the entrance to Humboldt Bay to the Woodley Island Marina in Arcata Bay.

Flight 800 Memorial

The centerpiece of a memorial to the victims of TWA Flight 800 in Long Island features an abstract rendering of a lighthouse. The 10-foot high sculpture carved from almost 7,000 pounds of black granite was hauled in to the memorial garden on Long Island and placed on top of a tomb holding many of the personal effects of the 230 people killed in the crash.

Lighthouse Becomes Church

A press wire report out of Crimea reports that a lighthouse in Alushta, Crimea, Ukraine, has been turned into an Orthodox church and was dedicated to all those lost at sea. Unfortunately, the name of the lighthouse and other pertinent information was not given in the wire service story.

Endangered Lights

While so much has been done around the nation many lighthouses continue to be in danger of being lost forever. Saving some of these remote lighthouses seems to be hopeless. Two lighthouses that we have received numerous letters about are Poverty Island Lighthouse and Ile aux Galets Lighthouse, both of which are in Michigan. If any of our readers can supply us with any information on any plans to save these lighthouses, we’d appreciate hearing from you.

Coast Guard In Action - Be Sure to Thank Them

Although many of our nation’s lighthouses are now being managed by nonprofits and other federal and state agencies, the Coast Guard’s heritage to our nation’s lighthouse will always remain and will continue well into the future. However, the Coast Guard is involved in so many other duties, it is important that we congratulate and compliment their people on a regular basis. Every day I see headlines about the Coast Guard and to prove my point, I thought I share a few of them with you.

Coast Guard Medevacs Crewman From Offshore Platform

Coast Guard Repatriates Dominican Migrants

Coast Guard Rescues Boaters

Coast Guard Airlifts Injured Sailor

Coast Guard Seizes Drugs

Coast Guard Makes Dramatic Sea Rescue

Coast Guard Saves the Day

Coast Guard Makes Amazing Rescue

Coast Guard Offers Training Course For Summer Boaters

The list could go on and on. There are many ways we can all thank the Coast Guard personnel for all they do. If you live in a Coast Guard community invite them to social functions or church activities, buy them a cup of coffee when you see them in a restaurant, invite some of them over to your house for a cookout, and whenever you see them anywhere, take a moment to walk over and simply shake their hand and thank them for all they do. Another way you can thank them is to write to your federal representatives and ask them to appropriate more money for the Coast Guard.

Dutch Island Restoration Plans

The Dutch Island Lighthouse Society, a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation has unveiled its plans for the restoration of the lighthouse. The group has raised $90,000 toward the project but still needs to raise $150,000 for completion and maintenance.

Birds Close Lighthouse Jeopardizing Other Preservation Projects

In June, the Cape Cod National Seashore closed off the access route to Massachusetts’ Race Point Lighthouse, which in turn caused the cancellation of overnight stays at the lighthouse and a major loss of income; income that was scheduled for other lighthouse preservation projects throughout New England. The access route was closed because of nesting Piping Plovers, which are considered an endangered species.

Although the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation offered several solutions to work around and still protect the endangered birds, government officials rejected the ideas.

Many restoration projects were begun prior to the closing, based on reservations and past history. Since the loss of nearly half a season’s overnight stays; the Cape Cod Chapter has been left wondering how to pay for the past winter’s upgrades at the lighthouse and how to fund other restoration projects.

It would seem to me that a compromise could have been agreed upon, but the Chapter’s main hope is that the closure ends quickly and that future years will bring a solution that protects the endangered birds and the many lighthouse restoration projects now left in jeopardy.

It appears that the Department of the Interior doesn’t understand that lighthouse preservationists are also environmentalists and would never harm the birds or do anything to endanger them.

The American Lighthouse Foundation is now appealing for urgently-needed donations to cover the loss of income to pay

its summer restoration bills. Donations, which are urgently needed, can be sent to the American Lighthouse Foundation,

P.O. Box 889, Wells, ME 04090 or made online at www.LighthouseFoundation.org.

Gull Gets Grant

Michigan’s Gull Rock lighthouse has received a $5,000 grant toward stabilizing the roof at the badly deteriorated light station. The nonprofit group working to save the lighthouse is working feverishly to raise the money to save the station.

Coast Guard Bachelor

Did anyone notice that People magazine recently named a San Diego, California, based Coast Guard officer as one of the 50 hottest bachelors in the nation? That’s right, Petty Officer 2nd Class Josh Miramontez, 25, was among the five non-celebrities on the list. However that eligibility could be questionable since he’s had a steady girlfriend for over a year.

Fort Cornwallis Light To Open

The Malaysian State Tourism Development and Environmental Committee have announced that since the refurbishing of the 1882 Fort Cornwallis Lighthouse is now complete, it will be open to the public. Also, a new small museum on the history of the lighthouse has also opened. The lighthouse is located on Penang Island in Malaysia.

Mackinaw Gets New Owner

The 290-foot long 1944 Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw (WAGB 83) has been decommission and turned over to the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum and will be ported in Mackinaw City, Michigan. The Coast Guard has replaced the vessel with a new icebreaker by the same name.

Oldest Station To Be Vacated

The Coast Guard wants to vacate the oldest Coast Guard Station still in use in the United States. Local officials would like to see the old Marquette Michigan Station be turned into a maritime museum when and if the Coast Guard builds a new station nearby.

Admiral Awarded Legion of Merit

We congratulate Rear Admiral Larry L. Hereth, Commander of the Fifth Coast Guard District on being honored with the Coast Guard’s Legion of Merit award for his meritorious service for coordinating the Coast Guard’s response to rescuing people in Hurricane Rita.

This story appeared in the August 2006 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

All contents copyright © 1995-2024 by Lighthouse Digest®, Inc. No story, photograph, or any other item on this website may be reprinted or reproduced without the express permission of Lighthouse Digest. For contact information, click here.