Church Point Destroyed

This past March 26, Nova Scotia, Canada’s 1874 Church Point Lighthouse was destroyed in a storm of hurricane force winds. The short white wooden square pyramidal tower with a red lantern room was literally demolished, leaving parts of the tower strewn about and other sections in a pile of rubble. The lighthouse, located on St. Mary’s Bay, Bay of Fundy, had been inactive for a number of years. Sadly, another slice of Canada’s Maritime history has been lost forever.

New Owner for Ashland

Ownership of Wisconsin’s Ashland Breakwater Lighthouse is likely to be transferred to the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. The lighthouse is popular with locals and its symbol appears on the letterhead of many area businesses. The transfer will be made possible if a bill in Congress introduced by Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressman Sean Duffy passes. Currently the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore already has a number of lighthouses under its auspices. (Photo by Sandra Shanklin.)

Money for Cape Henry

Virginia’s Cape Henry Lighthouse has recently been awarded a $160,000 grant for its ongoing care and restoration. Now managed by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities the lighthouse is the first lighthouse to be authorized and built by the federal government.

Vandals Destroy Lighthouse

Nova Scotia’s Point Aconi Lighthouse has been totally destroyed by a fire of suspicious origin. The lighthouse has been the subject of repeated vandalism in recent years. The Canadian government said that the lighthouse will not be rebuilt.

Repairs at St. Simons

The lighthouse keeper’s house at Georgia’s St. Simons Island Lighthouse is getting some major restoration work, which includes new shingles, paint, and other various items which include making the museum more appealing to children. The effort is the culmination of a two-year fundraising effort.

Repairs at Gibbs Hill

The world famous Gibbs Hill Lighthouse in Hamilton, Bermuda has undergone a $500,000 restoration. The work included sand blasting all metal surfaces, repainting and installing a new 48” high guardrail on the observation deck. Existing washroom facilities at the site will also be modernized and expanded to make them handicap accessible. (Photo by Marilyn Denman.).

Susan Boyle Lightkeeper?

Now I’ve heard it all. Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle has signed up to play the role of a singing lighthouse keeper in a new British television drama with a working title of Diva. Her role focuses on a lighthouse keeper from the Channel Island who dreams of stardom.

Break-In at Concord Point

This past February someone broke into the Concord Point Lighthouse in Havre de Grace, Maryland. A window that is six feet off the ground was shattered for access. Police said that the culprit or culprits apparently climbed the tower, but nothing was stolen. Apparently they couldn’t wait for the lighthouse to open for the season. Hopefully the vandals will be caught and made to pay for the damage. (Photo by Donald Gipe.)

St. Marks Transferred

The ceremony to mark the transfer of ownership of Florida’s St. Marks Lighthouse and its attached property from the U.S. Coast Guard to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge was held on March 28, 2014 at the lighthouse.

History Demolished

Over the objections of local preservationists, the structure that served as the second keeper’s house for Ohio’s Port Clinton Lighthouse has been demolished by the Croghan Colonial Bank. The bank purchased the structure at auction in April of 2013. Although the structure suffered some fire damage in September of 2009, the structure could have been easily restored and saved. Apparently the bank thought otherwise, and carrying little for historic preservation and more for corporate greed, they had history hauled away to a landfill.

Congrats to Howard Koslow

Noted artist Howard Koslow, whose artwork has adorned thirty lighthouse postage stamps since 1990, recently was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor by the Allied Artists of America at their recent 100th Annual Exhibition in New York City. Last year Koslow donated his collection of original artwork for U.S. postage stamps from 1971 to 2013 to the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum.

$425K for Mt. Desert Rock

The College of the Atlantic, which owns Maine’s remote Mt. Desert Rock Lighthouse, has been given a grant of $425,000.00 to restore the light station which they use as a hands on facility for the study of marine biology, oceanography and ocean sciences. The grant money was a gift from Jacomien and Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Sitting on a desolate treeless rocky 3.5 acre island, the Mt. Desert Rock Lighthouse is the furthest offshore lighthouse on the eastern coast of the United States. Storm damage in recent years has severely damaged the support buildings at the lighthouse which have caused some research and educational activities at the lighthouse to be scaled back and others to be curtailed.

Lighthouse Film to Proceed

A planned movie to be filmed at Maine’s Moose Peak Lighthouse was almost cancelled when the Coast Guard refused to turn off the fog horn during filming. After complaints by the film maker, at a waste of taxpayer money, the Coast Guard will install a new foghorn system that will be activated by mariners on a pre-designated VHF channel. The approval for the new system, which has been deemed as unreliable by many people in e-mails to us, was approved by Rear Admiral Daniel Abel, commander of the First Coast Guard District. It would have been smarter and more cost effective to simply have turned the fog signal off each day during filming when it wasn’t foggy and then turn it back on when filming was over for the day. Additionally, now if they are filming when it is foggy, anyone on a boat with the correct radio can turn it on and filming will have to stop anyway. This proves once again that sense is not common.

More Fresnel Lenses Out

The U.S. Coast Guard recently announced that the historic Fresnel lenses now in Minnesota’s Duluth South Breakwater Outer Lighthouse and the Duluth North Pier Lighthouses will be removed from the towers so that they can be properly cared maintained for the viewing by future generations. The lenses will be replaced by the LED beacons. Not everyone agrees with removing Fresnel lenses from lighthouses, although everyone agrees in their preservation. (South Outer Light photo by Randy Hemstad, North Pier Light by Laura Erickson.)

Cash to Help Gay Head

Country music star Rosanne Cash has agreed to do a summer benefit concert on Martha’s Vineyard this summer to help raise money to pay for the move of the Gay Head Lighthouse, which is on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List of Endangered Lighthouses. The exact date and venue is yet to be determined and will be announced as soon as the logistics can be worked out. Grammy-winning artist Rosanne Cash is the daughter of the late music legend Johnny Cash and his first wife Vivian Liberto Cash Distin. To learn more go to gayheadlight.org. (Photo by Thomas Poulos.)

Restoration Started at Pequot

Restoration has started at the New London Harbor Lighthouse, in New London, CT. Sometimes called the Pequot Lighthouse the present tower was built in 1891. With support from many areas, the restoration will take place under the auspices of the New London Maritime Society, which obtained ownership of the tower in 2005 under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. They also operate the Custom House Maritime Museum in New London.

New Book on Mobile Point

Historian David Smithweck has just released a book about Alabama’s no longer standing Mobile Point Lighthouse. Coincidentally, the Alabama Lighthouse Association is now raising money to reassemble the lighthouse that has been laying in storage for years. The new book, Mobile Point Lighthouse, with 70 page and black and white photos, can be ordered for $7.95 plus shipping from Lighthouse Digest, P.O. Box 250, East Machias, ME 04630 or on-line at www.LighthouseDigest.com.

Seguin Gets Dollars

Seguin Island Lighthouse, the highest lighthouse above water in Maine, has received a $5,000.00 grant from the Belvedere Fund Historic Preservation Grants Program of the Maine Community Foundation to replace the fascia, gutters, and soffits of the lighthouse keeper’s house. (Photo by Timothy Harrison.)

Access for Point Abino

The Town of Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada has entered into a new agreement for limited access to the Point Abino Lighthouse from the private property owners whose land must be crossed to reach the lighthouse. But, the agreement does not come cheap. The town will have to pay the local homeowners association $4,000 per year.

Big Red in Ads

Michigan’s Holland Harbor Lighthouse, more commonly known as “Big Red” is being used by Pure Michigan in its first nationally televised advertising campaign promoting tourism to the Great Lake State. The 30-second commercials were funded by Travel Michigan and have aired on ABS, CBS and NBC.

New Windows at St. George

Florida’s Cape St. George Lighthouse now has new windows in its lantern. The previous windows were plastic and the new windows are high-impact glass.

Lighthouse Auction Items

Recently there have been a number of stated antique lighthouse items for sale on E-bay. Some are real, some are not. There was a U.S. Lighthouse Establishment clock that was reportedly used at Portland Head Light and reportedly came from the estate of lighthouse keeper Robert T. Sterling. There was no mention of paperwork to support the claim. The asking price was $6450, but suddenly the item was taken off the auction site. It may have been sold outside of E-bay for a higher price, or the claim may not have been true or the clock may have been a fake - we have no way of knowing. There was also a wonderful glass globe for a lamp with the raised letters USLHE that at press time was at $413.88, a high price, but it was a wonderful artifact (the letters USLHE stand for United States Lighthouse Establishment). Also, there were a number of U.S. Lighthouse Service badges up for auction or for sale on E-bay. At press time, all of them shown on the site were reproductions. An authentic badge would be rare and extremely expensive. Also for sale are two different variations of U.S. Lighthouse Establishment and U.S. Lighthouse Service Hat Pins. They are reported as authentic, with an asking price of $350 and $195. But, the old saying of “Buyer Beware” again applies. Be sure you get paperwork or know the seller because replicas of both of those hat pins have been made and are somewhat easily available from various sources. Another auctioneer, Dan Murphy Auctions, reported that an eight-inch lighthouse doorstop, reported as the only known example, sold for a whopping $5,750.

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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