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The U.S. Coast Guard recently announced that they would like to preserve the two former aid-to-navigation tank-house towers that stand on Lake Champlain, one by the Isle La Mott Lighthouse in Vermont and the other at Split Rock Lighthouse in New York.
The towers were originally built as replacement aids to navigation when the lighthouse towers were discontinued. They were first powered by acetylene and later by lead-acid batteries. The two towers became obsolete when lights were placed back into the now privately owned lighthouses.
The Coast Guard wants to remove or demolish the towers from federal property because they are supposedly considered unsafe for Coast Guard personnel to climb and maintain, and the structures could prove to be a hazard to nearby property owners. However, there are many who believe, as we at Lighthouse Digest do, that the towers should be preserved as examples of this type of historic aid to navigation. However, if no one comes forward to save them, they may be demolished.
Suggestions and comments can be directed to Lucas Dlhopolsky of the Coast Guard at Lucas.A.Dlhopolsky@uscg.mil.
The image shown here, from the archives of Lighthouse Digest, is a vintage photo of the tank tower at Isle La Motte Lighthouse in Vermont.
This story appeared in the
May/Jun 2014 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.
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