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Nestled in the sand dunes at the very tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, surrounded by the fragile and highly protected Cape Cod National Seashore, stands the beautifully restored Race Point Light Station, where people from all over the world now come to spend the night. But, at one time in the not too distant past, the abandoned and endangered Race Point Light Station was in danger of being demolished, thereby being lost forever.
It was in 1995, shortly after the founding of the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF), then known as the New England Lighthouse Foundation when then co-founder and president of the group Timothy Harrison was informed that the deteriorating keeper’s house at Race Point Lighthouse was going to be demolished, a decision that, at the time, was supported by the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Harrison was shocked when he learned of this and immediately contacted Ted Dernago of the U.S. Coast Guard and requested a historic preservation lease/license for Race Point Lighthouse so that the volunteers from ALF could restore and save the historic property. However, the Cape Cod National Seashore objected to having the light station turned over to the lighthouse group. They feared that too many people in vehicles travelling back and forth to and from the lighthouse would damage the fragile eco system and would possibly destroy the nesting sites of the endangered Piping Plovers.
However, a deal was finally worked out that allowed ALF to secure the preservation license from the Coast Guard, but that agreement contained one serious stipulation. It gave ALF only one year to restore the keeper’s house and tower. If the property was not restored in one year, the license would be revoked and the property would either be demolished or turned over to the Cape Cod National Seashore. If ALF was able to restore the keeper’s house and tower, then they would be awarded a long term license for the property. Apparently, there were bureaucrats who assumed, and probably hoped, that ALF could never accomplish this goal in the one year time limit, especially with all the restrictions that the government put in place about when and how the group could have access and to and travel across property owned by the Cape Cod National Seashore to reach the lighthouse.
While all of this was taking place, the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation was formed. At its helm was Jim Walker, who coincidently is the same man who, while working for the Coast Guard in 1978 closed and boarded-up the Race Point Light Station. Jim Walker quickly assembled a highly motivated team of volunteers, including former and current Coastguardsmen, and they quickly, with extensive help from Tim Harrison and Kathleen Finnegan, began fund raising. And almost immediately, Jim Walker’s group of volunteers began working the lighthouse. With the help of the International Chimney Corporation, who had been hired to do work that the volunteers could not, the restoration moved more quickly than most thought that it would or could, especially at this remote location.
Then, in 1996, with only weeks to go before the deadline approached, and with certain projected costs having exceeded the allotted amount of money that had been budgeted, the money was all used up. With only the exterior of the keeper’s house left to restore and paint, Walker’s group made an urgent call to Tim Harrison at ALF. Within a matter of hours, Harrison called Douglas Bingham of the Cape Cod Chapter and said that he had secured the necessary funds to complete the restoration. In October of 1996, the volunteers, along with some of the donors, held a party at Race Point Lighthouse to celebrate the restoration of the lighthouse. And the rest is history.
Over the years since those early days in the mid-1990s, the Cape Cod Chapter of ALF has made immense progress in making Race Point Lighthouse Station a first class volunteer operation. They maintain a fleet of vehicles to transport people back and forth, they have trained knowledgeable docents, and they have hosted weddings, school groups, reunions, researchers, and others. The lighthouse has been featured on many television programs and documentaries, and the movie “The Lightkeepers,” a 1912 era movie starring Academy Award winning actor Richard Dreyfus, Emmy and Tony winner Blythe Danner, and noted actor and Oscar nominee Bruce Dern.
Additionally, under Jim Walker’s leadership, Race Point Lighthouse became the first lighthouse to fully operate with hybrid renewable energy when in 2007, they became the first totally green lighthouse in the nation. At the time, Jim Walker said, “This is a major accomplishment that other remote lighthouses that don’t have electricity can emulate.”
In April of 2011, at the age of 75, Jim Walker stepped down as president of the Cape Cod Chapter of ALF, but he continues to be semi-active with the group, all of whom are totally loyal and dedicated to the future of the lighthouse. However, it also needs to be mentioned here that Jim’s wife, Sylvia, was also an extremely active member of the group and its restoration of the lighthouse, and both have been honored by the Cape Cod Chapter and its parent organization the American Lighthouse Foundation.
Today the Race Point Lighthouse Station offers overnight accommodations, and with all of its modern conveniences, guests leave with wonderful memories of the feeling that they had stepped back in time to the 1940s when the real lighthouse keepers lived at the lighthouse and kept its light shining for the mariner at sea.
To highlight the history of Race Point Lighthouse we have shared with you a selection of photos taken over time to help celebrate the 200th Anniversary of this historic national treasure.
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 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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