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Movie Company Donates to Old Baldy

In honor of the Hallmark movie, One Summer, filmed, in part, at North Carolina’s Bald Head Lighthouse, the movie production company, One Summer Pictures, LLC, donated $10,000 to the Old Baldy Foundation for the ongoing preservation of the 1818 lighthouse that is more affectionately known as Old Baldy. The movie, starring Sam Page, Sarah Drew, and Amanda Schull, aired on the Hallmark Channel on October 3, 2021.

The movie is about Jack, who, along with his two children, returns to the hometown of his deceased wife. While there, he turns his attention to an old dilapidated lighthouse where his late wife used to play as a child. While Jack works to restore the lighthouse, he begins to see and speak with his late wife. This image of the lighthouse in a storm is part of the dramatic conclusion of the movie. Most likely, as with most Hallmark movies, it will air again on their streaming channel Hallmark Movies Now, or watchhallmarktv.com when it becomes available on-demand.

DAC Donates to Fenwick Island Light

The Delaware State Society Daughters of the American Colonists recently presented a check for $1,000 to Winnie Lewis, president of the Friends of Fenwick Lighthouse, for use at Delaware’s 1859 Fenwick Island Lighthouse.

Lighthouse Coin Found on Ship

A 128-year-old farthing coin was recently discovered under the mast of Lord Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory. The coin was found when the mast was removed for restoration work. The 1894 coin was placed there when the masts were installed on the ship after the previous ones became rotten. In its day, the coin would have been worth a quarter of a penny. The now-corroded coin once showed Queen Victoria’s head on one side and Britannia on the other, with a lighthouse in the background. Placing a coin under a mast was a tradition dating back to the early days of shipbuilding. Originally launched in 1765, the ship is now on display in Portsmouth, England and is open for public tours.

Tourist Guide Promotes Lighthouses

The cover of the tourist publication Downeast and Acadia, 2021’s Maine’s Best Regional Guide, features a beautiful color photograph of that state’s 1891 Prospect Harbor Lighthouse. However, because the lighthouse is located on a restricted military installation, most tourists will only be able to photograph the lighthouse from a distance. In 2004, it was discovered that the wooden beams supporting the lantern had rotted and the weight of the lantern was about to push out the tower’s round walls, which would have collapsed the lantern to the ground atop a pile of the tower’s rubble. Under the leadership of Timothy Harrison, who was then the president of the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF), the lighthouse tower was saved from imminent collapse when the lantern was removed by crane and a new deck and new support beams were installed. Lead paint was removed from the lantern and it was repainted and then installed back on top of the tower. The project was mostly funded by a $35,000 donation from the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation from money raised from overnight stays at Race Point Lighthouse. Later, new windows were installed in the tower from a grant from the New England Lighthouse Lovers (NELL)

St. Augustine Getting Makeover

The 1874 St. Augustine Lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida is getting a full makeover that includes the painting of the inside of the tower, which hasn’t been done since the early 1980s. Additionally, the exterior of the tower will be painted and maintenance on the lens will be performed, original interior steps will be recast, and windows and hand rails will be fixed. The keeper’s office and oil house will also be cleaned and preserved. On July 20, 2002, ownership of the 165-foot-tall tower was transferred to the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum. The tower will be closed for climbing during part of the restoration work.

Erosion Control at Crisp Point

The long-awaited erosion-control project at Michigan’s remote Crisp Point Lighthouse has taken place. An amazing 192 tons of new brick were brought in by land and placed over geofabric which helps to hold the soil and sand in place. For more information on the lighthouse go to www.CrispPointLighthouse.org

Avery Point Founding Member Dies

Dale Norros Treadway, 82, a founding member and past cochairman of Connecticut’s Avery Point Lighthouse Society, passed away this past November 1 in Gales Ferry, Connecticut. Dale was also instrumental in leading the charge in selling the engraved bricks that now line the 800-foot walkway at the lighthouse. Built in 1943 as a memorial to lighthouse keepers past, the lighthouse was once on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List of Endangered Lighthouses. Restoration on the tower began in 2003 and was officially completed when it was relighted in an elaborate ceremony as an aid to navigation on October 15, 2005. Our sincere condolences go out to Dale’s wife of 58 years, Alayne, and the rest of his family and friends.

$5.1 Million for Point Betsie Lighthouse

The State of Michigan has awarded $5.1 million for shoreline restoration at Point Betsie Lighthouse. The 1858 light station is now owned by Benzie County but managed by the Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse, who launched a capital campaign in 2019 that has generated roughly $1.3 million. According to recent press reports, more recent engineering studies estimate that the project could run as high as $9 million. The crumbling shoreline protection system was originally installed in 1944 and was reportedly last upgraded in 1979.

New Lighthouse Book from USPS

The United States Postal Service has issued a beautiful 48-page book that highlights compelling details about each of the 35 lighthouse postage stamps, with space to mount the stamps as you collect them. The Collectors Set includes a pane of the 2021 Lighthouse Forever stamps to start your collection. It sells for $36.00 as item # 481067 from www.usps.com/shop

Guy and Alice Towers Honored

Guy and Alice Towers, the cofounders of California’s Saint George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, were recently honored by that state’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors with a special proclamation. For over two decades, the group has been working to save the most expensive lighthouse ever built by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, which has had to use helicopters in its efforts to save the lighthouse, has been plagued by a number of setbacks over the years, but under their leadership they have persisted. There have been a lot of people who have led restoration efforts at many lighthouses over the years, but perhaps none have had to overcome the immense obstacles that they have had to overcome at St. George Reef Lighthouse. They are to be congratulated.

Changes at Doubling Point

After 23 years of navigating Maine’s Friends of Doubling Point Lighthouse, Jim and Joyce Spencer are passing the torch to Dan and Karen McLean, who will take over as the group’s President and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively. The McLeans are very knowledgeable about lighthouses, both having previously served as Coast Guard lighthouse keepers in the 1980s. Jim and Joyce Spencer will continue to serve on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Doubling Point Lighthouse.

Nova Scotia Lighthouse Leader Dies

The lighthouse community has lost another one of North America’s original lighthouse preservationists with the passing of Ernest “Rip” Irwin, who was a cofounder of Canada’s Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society. Ernest Hubert “Rip” Irwin, born in 1933, passed away peacefully on October 23, 2021. Rip spent eight years visiting and thoroughly researching all of the 165 lighthouses of Nova Scotia for his 2003 book, Lighthouses and Lights of Nova Scotia, A Complete Guide. In 2006, he donated his massive collection of research and an estimated 18,000 lighthouse-related photographs to the Lighthouse Research Interpretative Centre at the Northumberland Fisheries Museum in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada. As well as being passionate about saving lighthouses and their history, we believe that he was truly one of the nicest, warm-hearted, and likeable people in the lighthouse community. His accomplishments were many and he left a legacy that everyone should emulate. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

New Destroyer to Honor Coast Guard Hero

The U.S. Navy has begun construction at Bath Iron Works in Maine of the USS Quentin Walsh (DDG-132), a guided-missile destroyer that is named after U.S. Coast Guard Captain Quentin R. Walsh (1910-2000). During World War II, as the Coast Guard Commanding Officer of a specially trained unit of 53 men, Capt. Walsh was assigned the mission of reconnoitering the Naval Facilities and Arsenal at Cherbourg, France on June 26 and 27, 1944. Military records indicate that Walsh courageously engaged in active street fighting with the enemy as he led his party in the skillful penetration of the eastern half of the city. While advancing through scattered pockets of resistance and extremely hazardous areas which were still subjected to hostile fire, Walsh ultimately convinced the German commander of the 350-man enemy garrison to consent to an unconditional surrender. This secured the capture of the port city, which was needed to support the Allied Forces after D-Day. In doing so, he also secured the release of 52 United States Army Paratroopers, who had been held prisoners in the fort. Quentin R. Walsh was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions.

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This story appeared in the Jan/Feb 2022 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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