Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

For this post, I turn the reins over to Sue Clark for an update on the controversy which surrounds Pemaquid Point Lighthouse.

Sue is a charter member of the Maine Lighthouse Museum, a docent and former secretary of the Friends of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, and a member of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Her second marriage took place at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in September of 2000. She also is the creator of two great lighthouse blogs, Lighthouse News and Spectral Keeper of the Lights about haunted lighthouses.

I am extremely honored that Sue has agreed to do a "guest blogger" spot for me, as her knowledge of Pemaquid Point is second to none.

Who Should Own Pemaquid Point Lighthouse?

At the Bristol Town Meeting March 18, 2008, voters overwhelmingly approved a warrant article to "accept the gift of the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Tower at such a time as it is declared excess property and offered to the town by the federal government (the U.S. Coast Guard). "

Wow, I knew the town had a severe misunderstanding of all things Pemaquid Point, but this is one of the better ones.

By way of background, the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, arguably one of the best known lighthouses in Maine by virtue of it being featured on the state quarter in 2003, is part of the Town of Bristol's Lighthouse Park. When the lighthouse was electrified in 1934 and the last lightkeeper left, the town later bought the land surrounding the lighthouse to turn into a park. And they did, and used the house as both a rental apartment (upstairs) and as the Fisherman's Museum (downstairs). The Coast Guard of course retained the immediate land surrounding the light, as it is still an active aid to navigation.

Everything was fine for the next sixty years. The light was there for everyone to view, but no access to the lighthouse tower was provided. Sometime around 1993, the Coast Guard, who only visited the tower three or four times a year to change the bulbs, offered to lease the tower to the town for maintenance. The Selectmen refused at that time, citing costs and liability reasons as to why they shouldn't accept it.

Fast forward to the year 2000, when the federal government enacted the National Lighthouse Preservation Act, which put non-profit organizations on an equal footing with municipalities. Several lighthouses were outsourced at that time, since the Coast Guard was getting out of the lighthouse preservation business. Pemaquid Point was not on the list, but since Bristol had earlier refused to maintain and open the light, the American Lighthouse Foundation was approached, and accepted the long term lease from the Coast Guard. The tower, sadly in need of a paint job, was painted by volunteers from New England Lighthouse Lovers, an ALF chapter.

Then came September 11, 2001. The Coast Guard was put in charge of Homeland Security as their priority, and in the switch over, records pertaining to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse and Bristol's refusal of same were lost or misplaced. The Coast Guard has never been the best record keepers at times, but this loss would prove to be the basis of the controversy. In early 2003, initial meetings with interested citizens were held to form a local chapter for Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. This group, calling themselves the Friends of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, set to work in May to clean up the ground floor of the tower, fix it up in preparation for opening it to allow visitors to climb the tower. On Memorial Day weekend, the lines waiting to climb wound all around the park. At first, the tower was only guaranteed to be open Wednesday afternoon, but as more volunteers signed up the days were extended. Eventually the tower would be open from Mother's Day to Columbus Day from 9 am to 5 pm, seven days a week. No money was charged to climb the tower, but donations were encouraged. The town of Bristol charges a $2 per person park entry fee, and encourages donations in the Fisherman's Museum, so this was felt to be the best way to raise money.

ALF and FPPL met with the Bristol selectmen and town manager, and went away with promises to work together for the good of the tower and park. A spirit of cooperation was in the air. When the quarter was released in June, 2003, the ceremonies were held at the lighthouse, and served to provide the publicity that the tower was open for climbing.

Enter John Allen, the head of the Fisherman's Museum. From the beginning, Allen resented the money the FPPL was "taking" from the Museum. The accusations started. First, the FPPL was accused by him of "selling" things at the lighthouse. This was because the organization had bought thousands of the quarters and were selling them as a fundraiser.

At one point, the ALF met again with the selectmen and park board and extended an offer to fund and build a replica of the original fog bell mechanism. This was refused because the "town didn't want anyone controlling the bell tower." Of course, it wasn't an attempt to take control, but to work in the spirit of cooperation that had supposedly been offered at that initial meeting. This type of non-cooperation on until November 2005, when matters were brought to a head at a presentation ALF gave at the school about their and FPPL's work by accusing the ALF of underhandedly stealing the lighthouse away from Bristol. Both in person and in a subsequent letter to the editor in the local newspaper.

Well, that set off a storm of controversy, especially when Allen claimed the lighthouse belongs to Bristol and should not be run by people "from away." Just to clarify, "from away" in Maine means anyone not a Maine native. The American Lighthouse Foundation was born in Maine, and is still in Maine and has no plans to leave Maine. Hardly from away. And it has been the position of ALF, the National Park Service (the owners of the lighthouse), and the FPPL that the lighthouse, like all of them, belongs to everyone, not just Bristol. And of course, all the transfers of ownership have made access to the lighthouse by the public a requirement for any entity taking over the deed.

But the town saw money to be made. After all, visitors have come from every corner of the planet to climb, over 50,000 per year, and the dollar signs started spinning in their heads, as in, "What's an extra two dollars to climb the tower? We can get that money instead."

One of John Allen's better statements in a letter to the editor came when he claimed that because Bristol doesn't own the tower, no one will ever be able to use that image of the lighthouse again because "ALF has it copyrighted." Hmmm, tell that to the US Mint. If that's the case, they owe mucho bucks to the ALF.

And then came Town Meeting 2007, when the town voted to spend $10,000 to find a lawyer to break this sneaky and underhanded lease and return the tower to Bristol. Of course, by now, no one can find the original refusal, and the town can't find it either. And no one remembers being offered it in the past. A Lighthouse Committee was then started to seek out ways to break this lease. This false pride of ownership is strongly reminiscent of what happened at Currituck Beach Lighthouse. See

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/news/fight_for_the_light.htm

And now the voters have spoken. The town will graciously accept thelighthouse when the US Coast Guard offers it to them. Well, that's not how it works, people. The lighthouse has to be formally excessed, which the National Park Service will then add to their notice of availability list. For a period of time, applications will be accepted. The Park Serivce will then review the applications, and grade them accordingly. At that time, the possible applicants will be asked to submit further documentation. In anywhere from six months to a year, or even longer, the decision will be made. And I strongly suspect the American Lighthouse Foundation will come out ahead. A major renovation was undertaken by ALF on the tower this past summer, and the Town of Bristol contributed not one thin dime. Nor have they ever contributed any monies. In fact, they didn't think the lighthouse needed anything at all as far as maintenance.
http://mainelincolncountynews.com/index.cfm?ID=27293

What do you think? Should the Town of Bristol "own" this tower, like they think they should, or does this historic and beautiful lighthouse belong to all of America?

Requiem for a Lightship

Shame on the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts!

Lightship #114, built in 1930 at the Albina Iron Works in Portland, Oregon, was one of a "new breed" of lightships. At 133.3 feet long and a draught of 13 feet, LV114 was a very impessive specimen. It contained a new hull design, a new "direct diesel and diesel-electric propulsion" system, and state-of-the-art sound signals and locating devices. The lightship also boasted a 375mm electric lens lantern at each masthead, accounting for a 16,000 candle power capacity.

Lightship #114 was the first lightship to ever make a west coast to east coast trip, (via the Panama Canal).

LV114's first assignment after reaching the East Coast was to mark the shoals off Fire Island at the entrance to New York Harbor. It was removed from Fire Island in 1942, and until the end of WWII in 1945 served out of Bay Shore, NY as an "examination" vessel, armed with one 6-pound cannon.

At the conclusion of WWII, 114 was assigned for two years to Diamond Shoal, NC, just off the Outer Banks near Cape Hatteras. In 1947, 114 was removed from Diamond Shoals and for the next 11 years, became a "relief vessel" throughout the northeast U. S. (The purpose of a relief vessel was to temporarily take the place of permanently stationed lightships so that repairs and maintenance could be made on those vessels and the hazards they marked were not left unattended).

In 1958, 114 was again given permanent assignment, this time at Pollack Rip, a very dangerous "ship-eating" area just off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. After 11 years of serving Pollack Rip well, the lightship was again reassigned, this time to aid in the marking of Portland, Maine harbor.

After 41 years of dedicated service, Lightship 114 was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1971 with the intention of turning it into a "floating" Coast Guard maritime museum. Plans for the museum fell through, however, and in 1975, ownership of LV114 was transferred to the City of New Bedford.

There were grand plans for 114 in the mid 70's in New Bedford. Repainted and redubbed "New Bedford" by the city, the lightship was planned to be part of the newly revamped downtown area, complete with the remaking of the historical area around the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Seamen's Bethel, and a number of other buildings which dated back to New Bedford's heyday as the 1800's whaling capital of the world. The lightship would be part of the historical tourist area, open to visitors with "interpreters" conducting tours. It seemed like the perfect match for a lightship which served the surrounding area well.

Having grown up around the New Bedford area around this time, it seemed to me and the people of New Bedford that outwardly the city was turning a corner. After the collapse of the whaling industry, the city, once one of the richest in the world, became a shell of its former self. Eventually, textile factories replaced the whaling industry as the identity of the city, and a large fleet of fishing boats once again made New Bedford a maritime area of importance. As the textile industry slowly moved to the lower employment costs of Southern U. S. cities and closed their New Bedford factories during the 1960's and 70's, New Bedford unemployment was astronomical, (these were also the days of the 70's recession and gas shortages), and the city had to do something to revitalize the city, which was falling into disrepair. The city decided to try something new, to take its rich history and turn it into a tourist attraction.

Lightship "New Bedford", as it was now called, fell into the trap which many historical buildings, etc. get caught in. Although the intentions of the City of New Bedford were great, there never seemed to be enough money in the city's coffers to maintain the lightship and open it up to tourism, as was the intention. Over the years, 3 different mayors pledged to restore the lightship and make it a tourist attraction, but always, other priorities arose in this city which always seems to be struggling with a depressed economy. After 30 years of neglect, LV114 just couldn't endure any longer.

On May 31, 2006, the lightship rolled over on its side due to water which leaked in during a violent thunderstorm because of an open portal. In July of that year, while the City was still struggling with what to do with the lightship, and still on its side, vandals removed 23 historic brass portholes from the exposed side.

In September of 2006, after almost four months, the lightship was finally righted and the city was continuing to explore options of how to dispose themselves of 114. In December, the City posted the lightship on eBay, of all places, trying to recoup their losses for the cost of righting the ship and the years of storage. Sea Roy Enterprises, a scrap metal yard in New Bedford, was the lone bidder at $1,775. The city pulled the lightship off eBay and attempted to sell it to other area scrap yards, with no takers. It then negotiated another deal with Sea Roy, this time for $10,000, nowhere near the $212,000 the city spent to right the lightship and clean it up, but got the most anyone was willing to pay them for it.

Sea Roy towed the lightship from its mooring at the Commonwealth Electric Pier in June to its scrap facility just a short ways away on the Acushnet River, and by the end of that month, the once proud lightship was being dismantled.

LV114, last known as the New Bedford Lightship, is now only a memory. The City of New Bedford should be ashamed of itself! There was absolutely no reason that it ever should have come to this. If the city was unable to go ahead with its initial plans, it should have found a new home for the lightship many years ago, one that would welcome and respect the historic significance of this treasure. Unfortunately, this episode is typical to the way the City of New Bedford has been managed for as long as I can remember. One can only hope that lessons are learned here by other municipalities and we will never experience another historic treasure to fall into the same fate as LV114.

So long, LV114. Thank you for your service. You deserved a better fate.

Lighthouse Raffle

An article which appeared in the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Herald News this past Tuesday (July 17), caught the eye of many of us here. It's a great idea, I think, and I'd like to pass it on.
This past April, Cape Neddick Lighthouse in Maine, (most know it as just "Nubble"), had substantial damage done to its grounds due to a very powerful Nor'Easter. Estimates have come in as high as two million dollars worth of damage done to the island which supports the lighthouse. As is the case with most municipal coffers these days, there isn't enough money in the town of York's budget to make all of the repairs needed.
The Sohier Park Committee, (Nubble is part of Sohier Park), and the York Park and Recreations Department, (which oversees the lighthouse), have come up with a unique solution to raise $100,000, which would help toward making safety improvements on the island and pay for some of the much needed improvements. Their idea is to run a raffle.
Basically, the raffle would work like this;
1,000 tickets would be sold at $100 apiece. The only prize? One winner gets to stay in the keeper's quarters of the lighthouse for one full week.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
There are a few glitches, however. First of all, the town Selectmen must approve the plan, (they seem to be rather positively in favor of it, as long as there are no problems with insurance matters). Secondly, the keeper's house needs some major upgrades, ("bathroom issues" and running water were high on the priority list). The Park Commissioners feel, however, that the money raised last year from Nubble's Gift Shop, (approx. $138,000), could be used toward those improvements.
If all goes well, raffle tickets will go on sale in 2008, and the winner will be able to spend his/her week at the lighthouse in the summer of 2009. ( My question to the committee, if I win, can I bring a friend? or two or three?)
My guess is that if the raffle does come off and turns out to be a rousing success, it would probably be a regular annual event, (my hope is that, at least).
I, for one, will be keeping a close eye out for the town's decision, and if/when the tickets go on sale, I plan to be near the front of the line!