This past February, in 25-knot winds and sub-freezing temperatures, a daring and dedicated crew of 30 put in a second story and a new roof on the former oil house at the Graves Lighthouse in Boston Harbor. The oil house is being converted into a guest cottage at the light station.
A heavy-lift Erickson Air Crane helicopter was used to deliver the five-ton marine concrete walls and a prefabricated timber-framed roof out to the site. Then waiting crews guided the massive pieces in place as the helicopter slowly and correctly lowered them, one at a time, onto the sturdy granite oil house.
After the Graves Lighthouse was declared as excess property, it was sold at auction in 2013 to businessman Dave Waller of Malden, Massachusetts and restoration has been ongoing almost since then. Ownership expanded into a partnership with Boston businessman and philanthropist Bobby Sager in 2016.
Photographs courtesy of www.GravesLightStation.com.
This story appeared in the
May/Jun 2019 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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