Digest>Archives> Mar/Apr 2017

Keeper's Korner

Tidbits and Editorial Comments from the Tower

By Timothy Harrison

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Rock of Ages Seeks Help

The Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society is asking for the public’s help in raising $15,000 toward its restoration project to help finance this summer’s work at the lighthouse to restore the 4th floor keeper’s quarters so that volunteers will have a safe place to spend the night while working out at the lighthouse. The 1908 lighthouse is located east of Isle Royale in Lake Superior, Michigan. For more information you can visit their web site at www.rockofageslps.org. Donations can be emailed to Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society, P.O. Box 3531, Duluth, MN 55803. (Photo by Greg Stanley.)

Long-term Lease for Mississagi

The Manitoulin Tourism Association has signed a 10-year lease with the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Canadian Coast Guard) to operate the Mississagi Strait Lighthouse on the Meldrum Bay in Ontario, Canada.

New Plate for Louisiana Light

A new automobile license plate in Louisiana has been issued to help raise money for the restoration of the Tchefuncte River Rear Range Lighthouse in Madisonville, Louisiana. The lighthouse structure itself dates back to 1868 and has been in danger for quite some time.

Bill Frabotta Dies

William “Bill” H. Frabotta, owner of the Sand Hills Lighthouse in Eagle River Michigan passed away last November at the age of 85. Mr. Frabotta purchased the 1919 lighthouse, which is also known as the Five Mile Point Lighthouse, in 1961. The fog signal building served as his summer cottage for more than 30 years until the mid-1990s when he opened the restored lighthouse as a bed and breakfast. Our condolences go out to his family and friends. (Sand Hills Lighthouse photo by Russell Crane.)

Big Money for Southeast Light

The Southeast Lighthouse Foundation has received $1.25 million from Deepwater Wind LLC for the Southeast Lighthouse on Block Island, Rhode Island. Most of the money will go toward a full restoration with some fund going to an endowment. The beautiful Victorian lighthouse was moved back from the eroding bluff in 1993 capping a ten year project that required three acts of Congress and a budget of $2 million. (Photo by Karen Carlomano.)

Bill Clare Island Honored

Ireland’s Clare Island Lighthouse was recently named Europe’s Best Coastal Boutique Hotel at the World Boutique Hotel Awards. It was also recently featured in an extremely large article in the New York Times. There seems to be a trend among some of the privately owned lighthouses to capitalize on the popularity of lighthouses by making them into highfaluting accommodations. We believe this ruins the historical integrity of the lighthouses that are doing this. Most lighthouse keepers did not live affluently and, in our humble opinion, lighthouse accommodations should reflect more on how the lighthouses keepers actually lived. (Photo by Michael Mc Loughlin.)

$$$ for Home with Faux Light

A four bedroom, 3,500 square foot, home with a lighthouse facsimile on the ocean cliffs of Laguna Beach, California is for sale. Built in the 1920s it has a couple of guest houses, one made from the cabin of an old boat, and it even has a swimming pool that was carved into the part of the cliff. The original asking price was around $24 million, but rumor has it that the price has recently been lowered to around $16 million.

Dock for Whaleback

The American Lighthouse Foundation and its chapter The Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses have announced plans to build a dock for public access to the 1872 Whaleback Lighthouse that is located at the entrance to the Piscataqua River at the approach to Portsmouth Harbor on the border of Maine and New Hampshire. The three phase plan will include stabilization of the breakwaters, repairs to the foundation of the base of the former fog signal next to the lighthouse, and a dock system that will have a low visual profile to ensure that the historic appearance of the lighthouse is not adversely impacted. The project is expected to cost $300,000 with work to take place over two years.

Duluth Lights Added to Register

Two lighthouses on either end of ship canal in Duluth, Minnesota have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. They are the 1910 Duluth North Pier Light, which is also known as the Duluth Harbor North Breakwater Light and the 1901 Duluth Entry South Breakwater Outer Light. (Duluth North Pier Light photo by Ryan Rowe.)

Mystery at Fisgard Lighhouse

The Hallmark Movies and Mysterries Channel recently aired the premier of the movie “Framed for Murder – A Fixer Upper Mystery” that has a dramatic conclusion at the magnificent Fisgard Lighthouse in British Columbia, Canada. The story takes place in the tourist town of Lighthouse Cove and is based on the book “This Old Homicide – A Fixer Upper Mystery,” from the series of books by Kate Carlisle. If you missed the original airing, watch for it in the reruns.

Obama Adds to Monument

In his last days in office former president Barack Obama added the Piedras Blancas area in California, which includes the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, to the California Coastal National Monument. According to the government release, also added was the Trinidad Head promontory, which we assume also includes the Trinidad Lighthouse.

Marshall Pt Gets Wyeth Print

A rare signed Andrew Wyeth print of Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine has been donated to the Marshall Point Lighthouse Museum. The rare autographed print was donated by Robert and Betsy Webber in honor of long-time Marshall Point Lighthouse volunteers Bob and Joyce Sierer.

Streets Named After Lights

A planned subdivision of 600 new homes to be built on the edge of Fraserburg, Scotland, will have all the new streets named after Scottish lighthouses. Fraserburg is home to the famous Kinnard Head Lighthouse that is pictured here.

Getting Ready For Lens

Construction of the new exhibit space to house “Into the Lantern: A Lighthouse Experience” is in full swing: inside and out at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine where the lens that was once in use at Maines’s Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse will soon go on display. “Into the Lantern” opens in June of 2017.

Former Inn Is No More

The former and once popular Door County Lighthouse Inn, now closed down, has been sold for one dollar to Kathy Navis, who plans to move it next to the Wildflower Bed and Breakfast in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. According to local news reports she intends to use the properties as a mixture of year-round residences, transient rooms, and seasonal worker housing. We originally reported on the closure of the Door County Lighthouse Inn in the September/October 2016 edition of Lighthouse Digest.

Lands’ End Helps Marblehead

This past Christmas Lands’ End sold Christmas ornaments and tote bags featuring Ohio’s Marblehead Lighthouse on them at selected Sears stores with part of the proceeds going to the U.S. Lighthouse Society to help the Marblehead Lighthouse.

This story appeared in the Mar/Apr 2017 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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