Lighthouses of Australia Inc

Nearly two dozen historic lighthouses need caretakers

By Kim A. O'Connell, National Trust for Historic Preservation, USA
25 May 2006

Just off the northwest coast of Washington, the Burrows Island Lighthouse has stood guard over the Strait of Juan de Fuca for 100 years. This month, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that the beacon—and nearly two dozen other historic lighthouses—would be available to public and private entities as long as they agreed to preserve them. 

Since 2001, GSA has worked with the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Park Service to transfer historic lighthouses at no cost to qualified federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit groups, and other organizations. Under the terms of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act (NHLPA), recipients must agree to protect the structure and make it available for educational, recreational, or preservation purposes. Only those light stations that are listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places may qualify.

About 25 lighthouses have been conveyed through the program. "We wanted all possible lighthouse stewards—both public and private—on a level playing field," says Ralph Conner, GSA's director of real property utilization. "The objective here is to preserve these historic resources in the best way possible." 

The Burrows Island light is among the first five of an eventual 18 historic lighthouses that GSA will make available this year. Built in 1906, the 34-foot-tall square lighthouse is attached to a white, wood-framed building perched above a rocky cliff. The light contained a classic fourth-order Fresnel lens, which operated continuously until it was replaced with a modern optic lens in 1994.

Other available lighthouses include the Cabo San Juan station in Puerto Rico and three off-shore beacons—Hooper Island, Point No Point, and Sharps Island—in the Chesapeake Bay.

If no qualified applicants are found, the government may then sell them to individuals or other interested parties, who are also bound by preservation covenants. Five additional lighthouses, four of which have historic significance, are now available for public sale.

"This program is the best solution for the ongoing preservation of these historic lighthouses," says Jennifer Perunko, a National Park Service maritime historian. "People just love to visit these lights."

Source: http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arc_news_2006/052506.htm
Article reproduction: Nearly two dozen historic lighthouses need caretakers