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American Lighthouse Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 565
Rockland,
Maine 04841
Phone: 207-594-4174
Fax: 207-596-1091
info@lighthousefoundation.org
The American Lighthouse Foundation is a
Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization dedicated to the
preservation of America's historic
lighthouses & lightships and
their heritage.
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Scouts and Volunteer Force Invade a Downeast
Island Lighthouse
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A remote island off the coast of Cutler, Maine, was
invaded last week by the largest contingent of volunteers the 15-acre
island lighthouse station has ever seen to help in the restoration of
the lighthouse that a number of years ago was declared by Maine
Preservation as one of Maine’s Ten Most |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Little River Light Station,
Cutler, Maine
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Endangered Historic Properties.
Boy Scouts from Troop 23 in South Portland made the five-hour trip to learn
first-hand what they could do to help a dedicated group of volunteers from
the American Lighthouse Foundation, who have been working for the last five
years to save the historic lighthouse. This wasn’t just a one-day event for
Troop 23. The scouts set up camp and spent the entire week on the island to
lend a helping hand working at the lighthouse.
These young scouts immediately proved that they are a sturdy breed and as
they helped to paint the boat house, rebuilt a wall for the light |
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Photo by Kathleen Finnegan
Boy Scout Troop 23, South
Portland, Maine
Back Row
(L to R) Nathaniel Alexander, Rick Alexander, Chris Harle, Alex
Latendresse, Joe Picoraro, Lynne Teague and Jim Ashton...Front Row (L to
R) ALF president Tim Harrison, Connor Igo, Benjamin Teague and Hunter
Blondin
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station’s cistern, dug and removed rocks from the lawn,
painted the keeper’s house, cleared and cut brush, and started the
process of surveying future nature trails on the island.
By no means were the scouts alone on this trip. Also on
the island to work on various volunteer projects was the crew of a
55-foot buoy boat from the Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation Team in
Southwest Harbor, as |
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well as
crewmembers of the famous Abbie Burgess Keeper Class Buoy Tender out of
Rockland. The Abbie Burgess is named after Maine’s famous lighthouse heroine
whose heroic deeds have been recounted in numerous books and documentaries.
Since the Coast Guard no longer owns the island or the lighthouse, this work
was not considered part of their regular duties. Instead it was a volunteer
project by its crewmembers as part of their community outreach program,
which ideally lent itself to working with the boy scouts as well as the many
volunteers of the American Lighthouse Foundation on hand for the week.
Returning to the lighthouse for his second year of volunteering was former
lighthouse keeper Al Vachon who was stationed at Little River as a |
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lighthouse keeper in the early 1970s. He and his wife Pat
spent several days on the island helping with a number of projects. They
were assisted by Master Chief Dennis Dever (USCG Retired) who was once a
lighthouse keeper at Boston Lighthouse in Massachusetts. This was
Dever’s third trip to Little River |
Photo by Kathleen Finnegan
The U.S. Coast Guard Buoy Tender
ABBIE BURGESS anchored just off
Little River Light Station
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Lighthouse as a volunteer.
Among the many other volunteers were Ernie Richelle, with his wife and two
daughters, who traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to help with volunteer
projects.
Tim Harrison, President of the American Lighthouse Foundation said, “This
amount of volunteers all within a ten day period is a tribute to keepers of
yesterday, especially when so many people want to help save the heritage and
history that they left us with. It also shows a debt of |
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Photo by Timothy Harrison
(L to R) Captain Paul Dilger of the ABBIE
BURGESS with retired Coastguardsman and former Little River lightkeeper
Al Vachon
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gratitude to
Hal Biering and his wife Betty. This is the fourth year these 80 year
olds have traveled from Alabama spending the entire spring and summer
months working on the island's lighthouse restoration. In fact, if it
were not for Hal, the restoration would never have come this far.”
Biering said
he was elated |
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to see the young
scouts because, “They are the next generation of people that will need to
make sure what we have now restored will be maintained into the future. They
really are the “keepers of tomorrow.”
This was a
first-time experience that all of the scouts had ever experienced with a
lighthouse restoration project or ever camped on a |
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remote island.
Scoutmaster Joseph Picoraro said this was a rewarding experience for him
as well as the scouts and they all voted that they want to return again
next year with a larger group. The boys also indicated they were going
to try to get other scout troops to join them. “After all,” said
Picoraro, “Just look around, there are |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Hal Biering has been a true "keeper" over
the past four years and one of the key
reasons why Little River Light is on the
road to preservation
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enough educational
experiences on this island for the scouts to learn from than can be found
almost anywhere else.”
Boy scout Alexander Latendresse said, “This lighthouse trip was awesome. I
enjoy helping out and doing service while preserving the history of the
lighthouse. Another scout, Nathaniel Alexander said, “I chose to come here
because I wanted to work on a lighthouse. I liked being part of history.”
As well as working hard on the restoration the scouts were trained in first
aid assistance programs and life-saving efforts. The Troop also delighted |
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
(L to R) Boy Scouts Chris Harle
and Alexander Latendresse, along with
their fellow scouts and
leaders, made a hands-on
difference helping
Little River Light
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in hearing a fascinating lesson on lighthouse history,
which was presented by Timothy Harrison. Afterwards some scouts
expressed concerns as to why this valuable part of American history was
not being taught to them in their schools.
Naturally the scouts also had some fun mixed in with the
work. They explored and hiked the island, went swimming in the harbor
and took one field trip off the island to visit West Quoddy Lighthouse
the easternmost lighthouse in the United States. Here, thanks to Park
Ranger John Smith, once a boy scout himself, they had the opportunity to
climb the tower. While at West Quoddy the boys also hiked the
magnificent trails along the cliffs of the state park.
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The more challenging work carried out at Little River Lighthouse during the
workweek included painting the top of the lantern room and removing rust
from underneath its high deck, which was left to the efforts of experienced
people like Bob Trapani, Jr., Executive Director of the American Lighthouse
Foundation. Trapani, who has gained a lot of previous experience working on
high and dangerous offshore lighthouses, took on the highest parts of the
project. Trapani was assisted in the high work by former lighthouse keepers
Vachon and Dever, who along with volunteer crewmembers of the Abbie Burgess,
performed the work on the 41-foot tower from ladders and dangled in a Bos’n
chair from the lantern room via a series of ropes and pulleys for maximum
safety as they performed their tasks.
The boy scouts got an extra treat when their work was recognized by two
Maine TV stations that showed up on the island to interview them about |
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their unusual community service project of helping to
save a historic Maine lighthouse.
The American Lighthouse Foundation has one more volunteer
work date from Sept. 1st to 3rd when they hope final projects can be
completed on the island and perhaps even hold a Sunday morning church
service on the island.
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Photo by Timothy Harrison
ALF and Coast Guard volunteers handled
the high work on the light tower while
the
Boy Scouts and their leaders helped with
the keeper's house
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Trapani said his biggest concern is that recent projects went over the
planned budget and the nonprofit group needs some immediate donations to
help cover extra expenses. He hopes people will come forward to assist them
so the possibility of making the island available to more people and other
scout groups in the future can become a reality.
Photo by Timothy Harrison
Reporter Susan Farley of WABI TV,
a CBS affiliate out of Bangor, Maine,
interviews the Boy Scouts at Little River
Light, learning why they believe it is
important to save our lighthouse heritage
Special thanks to Sherwin-Williams (Store # 5328) in Wells,
Maine for their generous support of the August 2006 workweek
at
Little River Light Station. Sherwin-Williams donated the paint
for the light tower, as well as providing very kind discounts on
other paint and supplies, which were used by ALF, Coast
Guard
and Boy Scout volunteers.
Released 8/19/06 |
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