March 2011 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 7. Waterfront News DOOMSDAY LIST OF ENDANGERED LIGHTHOUSES RELEASED


Lighthouse Digest has released its annual Doomsday List of Endangered United States Lighthouses. Since 1993, the Maine based national lighthouse news and history magazine has been publishing the list in an effort to draw public attention to lighthouses that were and are in danger of being lost forever.


Of the 35 lighthouses included on this year’s list, Louisiana has the most with five, followed by Michigan with four, New York with three and two in Alabama. Some of the endangered United States lighthouses are in U.S. Territories. “What’s really astounding,” said Tim Harrison, editor of Lighthouse Digest, “is that the U.S. Virgin Islands, which depends so much on tourism,


has two lighthouses, Buck Island and Ham’s Bluff, on the Doomsday List.”


Harrison continued by saying, “It’s absurd that some lighthouses such as Pigeon Point Lighthouse in California and Windward Point Lighthouse at Guantanamo Bay are on the Doomsday List. Both are cases of government bureaucracy gone amuck in letting the situation to even reach the point that the lighthouses had to be closed and in the case of Windward Point, condemned.”


Harrison also said, “The federal government is directly responsible for allowing Michigan’s Poverty Island Lighthouse to decay almost to the point of no return. However, if the government


Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse 2011 Open House Schedule


SOUTH PORTLAND –The Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse Trust has announced their 2011 open house schedule. The historic lighthouse will be open to the public most Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting, from 11am-3pm starting Saturday, June 18th. The open house schedule continues on June 25, July 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 31, August 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28, September 3 (Labor Day weekend), 17 and October 8. The 2011 schedule allows for the greatest public accessibility to date. Saturday, September 17 – annual Maine Lighthouse Day – will feature extended hours and special celebrations.


Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse has the unique distinction of being the only caisson- style lighthouse in America accessible by land and open for public tours. Constructed in the late 1800s on a dangerous ledge that is now covered by a breakwater, Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse marks the entrance to picturesque Portland Harbor. Originally illuminated by kerosene, the lighthouse was


electrified in 1934 and is now full automated; guiding distant mariners with its characteristic one second flash every six seconds.


Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse is located off of Fort Road on the campus of Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) in historic South Portland. A tour donation of $5 is requested. Children under 14 are free. A minimum height of 55” is required for access. Call the Spring Point Ledge info-line at (207) 699-2676 or visit www.SpringPointLight.org for more information.


In addition to scheduled public tours, Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse is available for small, private day functions. Make your event unique and memorable by experiencing a slice of Maine’s maritime history. For lighthouse rental information – including area inn, hotel and corporate partnerships – contact Don Russell at (207) 699-2676, or email at don@brandme.net.


The Apprenticeshop Welcomes New Board Members


The Apprenticeshop, a school for traditional boatbuilding and seamanship in Rockland, recently welcomed 6 new directors to its board.


Craftsman and sailor Alec Brainerd, one of the last graduates of the Rockport Artisan’s College (a previous form of The Apprenticeshop), is the owner and founder of Artisan Boatworks in Rockport, where he operates a state of the art boatbuilding shop to build and restore wooden boats. There, he employs a highly skilled team of carpenters, finishers, and riggers, and maintains a growing storage fleet.


The Honorable James O’Leary adds his legal perspective to the board. His early career included time as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice-civil rights division, a stint as assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, and culminated in over 30 years of service as justice of the trial court of Massachusetts. He and his wife Deborah retired to Cushing last summer.


Journalist and yachtsman Aaron Porter of Brooklin, is the editor of Professional Boatbuilder, a magazine of WoodenBoat Publications. Originally from Canada, Porter has much seamanship experience from time spent as mate on the Pride of Baltimore II, American Eagle, Mary Day, and other traditional schooners. He also serves as chairman of the Hancock County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation, a board member of Windward Passage, and an advisor for the Landing School in Arundel.


Green building advocate, writer, and television host Steve Thomas of Port Clyde joins the board as well. Having studied with noted Micronesian navigation master Mau Piailug on the island of Satawal, Thomas’s memoir, The Last Navigator, was published in 1986. A documentary on Piailug for PBS followed. Thomas then went on to host PBS’s This Old House and has since hosted programs for The History Channel and Discovery. Thomas’s commitment to environmentally conscious building calls him around the country as a consultant and keynote speaker.


Apprentice Hobbs White joined the board to serve as a student representative. A native of the Washington, DC area, White enrolled as an apprentice because “I wanted to continue learning, and specifically to learn a concrete, physical skill — to learn to create something that is both functionally and aesthetically satisfying. But rather than just a practical education or trade, I wanted an experience that provided a more thoughtful approach to life.” White is at the midway point of his apprenticeship and is part of the team at work on the “Apprentice 15,” a double-ended, lapstrake day sailor designed by instructor Kevin Carney.


Sailor and businessman Bill Zierden of St. George returns to The Apprenticeshop board after a 4-year hiatus in which he served the library of St. George. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Zierden’s career


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allows it, the main structure, including the tower, at Poverty Island Lighthouse can still be saved by the right group of volunteers. Unfortunately, some of the structures at Poverty Island Lighthouse, such as the assistant keeper’s house have already collapsed due to government apathy.” Harrison said, “The prospect for saving some of the lighthouses are good, especially where there are concerned people who have stepped forward such as with Sand Island Lighthouse in Alabama and Morris Island Lighthouse in South Carolina. But others, such as Fort Carroll Lighthouse in Maryland, Fishing Battery Lighthouse in New York, and Fourteen Mile Point in Michigan may never be saved,” says Harrison. However, drawing public attention to endangered lighthouses didn’t help some of the lighthouses that were once on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List. Many of them, such as Kauhola Point Lighthouse in Hawaii, Galveston Jetty Lighthouse in Texas, West Rigolets Lighthouse in Louisiana, and Cedar Point Lighthouse in Maryland were destroyed and lost forever. Also once on the Doomsday List was Florida’s Cape George Lighthouse, which eventually toppled over and crashed to the ground. But volunteers picked up the bricks and after years of hard work miraculously rebuilt the lighthouse in a new location. There are also many success stories about lighthouses that were once on the Doomsday List such as Crisp Point Lighthouse in Michigan, which was saved in the nick of time from collapse due to erosion. Others such as Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest brick lighthouse in the U.S., was saved when it was moved back from the eroding shoreline, as were Southeast Light on Block Island, Rhode Island and Sankaty Head Lighthouse on Nantucket Island and Nauset Beach Lighthouse on Cape Cod. The Doomsday List:


Buck Island Lighthouse, USVI Cedar Island Lighthouse, NY Charity Island Lighthouse, MI Culebrita Island Lighthouse, PR Destruction Island Lighthouse, WA Fishing Battery Lighthouse, MD Fort Carroll Lighthouse, MD


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Fourteen Mile Point Lighthouse, MI Guanica Lighthouse, PR Ham’s Bluff Lighthouse, USVI Horseshoe Reef, NY


Isla Caja de Muertos lighthouse, PR Long Tail Point Lighthouse, WI Minnesota Point Lighthouse, MN Mobile Point Range Rear Lighthouse,


AL


Mona Island Lighthouse, PR Morris Island Lighthouse, SC Navassa Island Lighthouse, U.S.


Territory


New Point Comfort Lighthouse, VA Pass A L’Outre Lighthouse, LA Pass Manchac Lighthouse, LA Pigeon Point Lighthouse, CA Pointe Aux Roches Lighthouse, NY Poverty Island Lighthouse, MI Puerto Ferro Lighthouse, PR Prices Creek Lighthouse, NC Sabine Pass Lighthouse, LA Sand Island Lighthouse, AL Sharp’s Island Lighthouse, MD Ship Shoal Lighthouse, LA Southwest Pass Lighthouse, LA Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, OR Turtle Island Lighthouse, OH Waugoshance Lighthouse, MI Windward Point, Guantanamo Bay


The full story about the lighthouses on the Doomsday List of Endangered Lighthouses can be found in the January/ February issue of Lighthouse Digest. Single copies can be ordered for $5 each or to subscribe starting with the January issue call 1-800-668-7737 or go to their web site at www.FogHornPublishing.com.


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