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A recent project at Maine’s Whaleback Lighthouse by the J.D. Leslie Masonry Company removed lead paint and debris from the bowels of the lighthouse. Recently, the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, which is a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, also had the tower weatherproofed, which put a stop to years of water damage.
The nonprofit group is also working with various agencies, an engineer, and an architect with the goal of installing a steel dock to facilitate restoration work and future public visitation. Presently, access to the lighthouse is difficult and hazardous, even in calm weather.
Located on the Maine and New Hampshire border, the 1872 lighthouse was automated in 1963. The historic lens that was once in the tower is now in the possession of the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. In 2005 the lighthouse was leased to the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF), and in 2007, under the National Historical Lighthouse Preservation Act, ALF was awarded ownership of the lighthouse. (Photos by Jim Leslie.)
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