Helicopter tours to St. George Reef Lighthouse have now resumed after being halted four years ago when the State of California stopped allowing them. However, after shifting the landing site closer to the edge of the helipad and the removal of a skylight that slightly protruded from the caisson roof that provided natural light into the engine room directly from the landing zone, the government has allowed the helicopter tours to resume.
This was great news for the St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, which depends on those tours to help fund the restoration of the 1892 lighthouse that is located approximately three miles off the coast of Crescent City, California.
The St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society was formed by Guy Towers nearly 30 years ago to save the abandoned lighthouse that is considered the most expensive lighthouse ever built by the United States Lighthouse Service.
In spite of the numerous setbacks over the years, and the four year shut down of tours, Guy Towers and his dedicated group of preservationists have withstood the test of time and accomplished a lot at this remote and magnificent outpost that towers 100 feet up into the air from a rocky outcrop. In addition to the tours to the lighthouse, they have installed a new historically accurate lantern, have all utilities now in working order, removed tons of trash, and they have repainted and plastered the keeper’s rooms.
To learn more about the amazing history of this lighthouse, we suggest that you order the book St. George Reef Lighthouse by Guy Towers that is available from Lighthouse Digest as item #2172 for $21.99 plus shipping on line at www.LighthouseDigest.com or by mail at P.O. Box250, East Machias, ME 04630 or call us at 207-259-2121.
This story appeared in the
Nov/Dec 2016 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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