Passings

David Butler, one of the cofounders of the Hillsboro (FL) Lighthouse Preservation Society, is dead at the age of 75. Butler, who had been suffering from cancer for the past two years, committed suicide. When the original lens in the tower was going to be retired to a museum, Butler led the way to restore the lens and the equipment, and even located a company to make one of the parts. He served as president of the group in 2001, and will be missed by the lighthouse community.

James "Jim" Carl Gullette, 69, of Greer, South Carolina died Oct. 7, 2003, at his home. He was the author of the book "Sonny's Fort," which was the subject of my article in the September 2003 Lighthouse Digest entitled “Sonny's Fort: Jim Gullette's Childhood Years at Fort Sumter.”

Jim's father James H. Gullette was the last lighthouse keeper at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and also served on lightships in a 37-year career. Jim, besides writing “Sonny's Fort,” was an accomplished scrimshander and inventor and held patents on two sport utility knives.

Grassy Island restoration underway

Volunteers of the Green Bay Yachting Club are restoring Wisconsin’s Grassy Island Range Lights. It’s estimated that the restoration may cost as much as $100,000. The lighthouses, which once stood in the channel, were discontinued in the 1960’s and moved to the mainland. If any of our readers can send us photographs of the restoration work in progress, we’d love to publish them.

Shore Village Museum raising money

The Shore Village Museum in Rockland, Maine, which houses the largest collection of lighthouses lenses and lighthouse machinery, in a museum will soon be changing its name to Maine’s Lighthouse Museum and moving to a new location on the city’s waterfront. However, the museum needs to raise $1.4 million dollars to help pay for the move, renovations to the building and to properly install new displays and interperative signage.

He’s got his own

Steve Koski of L’Anse, MI has always loved lighthouses, so eventually he built his own. It may have been a facsimile lighthouse to start with, but now it’s an official Coast Guard certified lighthouse. The lighthouse is located at Steve’s Indian Country Sports Store in L’Anse Michigan beaming out over the Keweenaw Bay. So, the next time you’re in that area of Michigan, be sure you stop by to snap a photo and drop in and say hello to Steve, a real life modern day lighthouse keeper.

New foghorn at Manistee

Michigan’s, Manistee North Pierhead Lighthouse has a new foghorn, thanks to the United States Coast Guard. The old foghorn went off 24 hours per day, regardless of what the weather is. The new foghorn will only go off when there is really fog in the air.

Stamps glow in the dark

The new lighthouse postage stamps from Finland glow in the dark. Finland Post, in a press release, stated, “The miniature souvenir sheet has a glow in the dark treatment to make the beacons light up at night -like the real thing at sea. The miniature sheet is believed to be the world’s first lighthouse stamp issue that glows in the dark.” The souvenir sheet contains five stamps with no postage price printed on them. However each stamp is printed with a 1 and words that say, “luokka kall” meaning that the stamp is First Class mail postage. The lighthouses features are Bengtskar, Russaro, Ronnskar, Harmaja and Soderskar. The years that the lighthouses were built along with their locations and height above sea level are on the border above the stamps.

Fresnel lens removal continues

The Fresnel lens of Michigan’s St Joseph North Pier Lighthouse has been removed and replaced by a modern plastic optic. The Fresnel lens from the other (innermost) North Pier Light will also be replaced by a plastic optic sometime in the near future. The Fresnel lens will be loaned, under a five-year lease agreement, to the Fort Miami Heritage Society.

Dig discovers original Pointe Aux Barques lighthouse

An archaeological dig at Michigan’s Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse has uncovered of the original lighthouse and keepers house at the site. The first lighthouse was built in 1847-48 and replaced by the current structure that has stood at the site since 1857. Both foundations contained stones and mortar and artifacts from the time period. The first lighthouse at the site only lasted a few years and had to be replaced because the walls cracked. The dig gave evidence that the original keepers house was burned down.

Lighthouse discontinued

For the fist time in a long time a major lighthouse along Scotland’s coast has been discontinued and darkened. It was not downgraded to a minor light, simply discontinued. The fairly well known Holborn Head Lighthouse, built in 1862 by lighthouse engineer David Stevenson, will now be dark forever. Too bad, you would have thought they could have at least kept a light in the tower for ceremonial purposes if nothing else.

New PA light

Tionesta has a new lighthouse, privately built by local resident Jack Sherman. Although Sherman will display part of his 200 plus lighthouse collectibles in the lighthouse, the six-story lighthouse will really be a tribune to his family’s history and display many family photographs and memorabilia.

Sturgeon Point opened for first time in years

Michigan’s Sturgeon Point Lighthouse was opened this past August for a local Historical Festival, giving people the opportunity to climb the historic tower. This was the first time in six years the tower was opened to the public. The Alcona County Historical Society hopes to be able to expand the openings for many more times next year, but a lot depends on finding enough volunteers to staff the tower.

Wall Street showed interest in Currituck

The Currituck Lighthouse fiasco received the attention of one of this nation’s largest newspapers for the second time. The Wall Street Journal has given some detailed coverage of the dirty politics over the battle by certain government officials who are trying to steal ownership of the North Carolina lighthouse from its rightful owners, the nonprofit Outer Banks Conservationists. Now that this battle is over, we can only hope that the Wall Street Journal gives some good coverage to all the good that our nonprofit lighthouse preservation groups are doing along with a plug to make donations. Send them an e-mail and ask for some coverage of your favorite nonprofit lighthouse group.

Gibbs Hill suffers damage

Bermuda’s famous 1846 Gibbs Hill Lighthouse suffered some severe damage from recent Hurricane Fabian. The high winds that hit the tower, causing the mercury, which the lens floats in to rotate, to spill causing a heath risk, putting out the light. After being dark for three weeks the lighthouse is now lit up again with temporary rotating halogen light, however it will be some time before the necessary parts arrive to fix the old lighting system.

Can it be saved?

Huron Island Lighthouse, one of the more remote lighthouses of Lake Superior, sits abandoned and decaying, but its light still shines from the tower. Visiting the lighthouse gives you the feeling the world came to an end and the machines keep running in spite of no people being anywhere. Although it is on the National Register of Historic Places, the roof is falling, windows are broken, and there is general decay typical of an abandoned structure. It is hoped that the Huron Island Lighthouse Preservation Society can change that. If you’d like to help, contact the Huron Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, P.O. Box 381, L’Anse, MI 49946 or go to www.LighthouseDepot.com and type in Huron Island Light in the search box and it will guide you to the link to their web site.

Iowa town to LIGHTEN UP with lighthouses

Clinton, Iowa will soon be getting a large number of lighthouses as part of the 2004 Grand Excursion. Next June 26, the community will unveil 20 different decorated lighthouses around the community similar to the Lighthouses on Parade that was just completed in southern Maine. However, instead of 10-foot tall lighthouses as were on display in Maine, these will be 6-foot tall lighthouses, also made of fiberglass, as they were in Maine. However, each lighthouse will sit on a 2-foot-high by 2-foot-wide concrete base in a program appropriately named “Lighten Up.” As was done in Maine, each lighthouse will be decorated differently, soliciting the talents of various area artists.

New Owners at Grand Traverse

Nothing will really change at Michigan’s Grand Traverse Lighthouse, except that the lighthouse will now officially become part of the Leelanau State Park through the Michigan DNR. The nonprofit Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum, which has been overseeing the lighthouse for the past 17 years, will continue as usual.

Old Mack to open

One of Michigan’s most visited lighthouses will now be open to the public starting in the spring of next year. For the first time in over 50 years, tourists and lighthouse lovers will be able to claim the spiral stairs to the top of Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse in Mackinaw City, Michigan. The lighthouse sits in the shadows of the Mackinac Bridge, which doomed the lighthouse when it was completed.

Eagle Bluff gets new owners

In ceremonies held at the lighthouse this past October, Wisconsin’s Eagle Bluff Lighthouse ownership was transferred to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and then leased to the Door County Historical Society. The Door County Historical Society began restoration of the lighthouse in 1960 and has since operated it as a museum.

This story appeared in the November 2003 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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