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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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Cape Cod Chapter Keeps a
Careful Watch Over
Wood End & Long Point Lights
By Bob Trapani, Jr.
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| The Cape Cod Chapter of the American
Lighthouse Foundation, known for their superb job with the restoration
and utilization of Race Point Light over the years, also serves as
caretaker for the Cape’s Wood End and Long Point lights. The stewardship
responsibilities for maintaining all the three lighthouses on the
shifting sands of Cape Cod is no easy |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
A Cape Cod Chapter four-wheel drive
vehicle shows its support for the
American
Lighthouse Foundation...Long Point Light
is in the background
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task and in many
ways, is as challenging as caring for offshore island light stations.
Like nearly all lighthouse preservation work – especially exterior projects,
the work season at Wood End and Long Point lights consists of taking
advantage of the warmer weather for work projects that are necessary at each
station. Yet even warmer weather often times is not a friend to the
dedicated volunteers of the Cape Cod Chapter. The distance factor alone is a
formidable opponent, coupled with the fact that the lighthouses are situated
on a slender sandy spit subject to the whim of the tides, and it doesn’t end
there.
As a volunteer, can you imagine trudging through soft sand under a scorching
summer sun carrying work supplies or performing routine |
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
The light tower and oil house are all
that remains at Wood End Light Station
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maintenance
tasks while under a relentless assault from biting insects? If you are
Cape Cod Chapter volunteer, you endure these conditions and more in an
effort to serve as keepers of Wood End and Long Point.
Jim Walker,
president of the Cape Cod Chapter, recalls a specific work project
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that was designed to
repaint the two square brick sentinels. “We used two crews of four people
each – one for Wood End and the other at Long Point,” says Walker. The
painting project took two full days of work – and a lot of cold coke and hot
dogs, to complete, but we did it.” The volunteers also coped with a stiff
breeze during the repainting projects, which was responsible for the crews
wearing clothing completely spattered in white by day’s end. Yet according
to Walker, “the real problem was the tides.” High tide can make accessing or
departing the two lighthouses an impossible task.
The American Lighthouse Foundation, which obtained stewardship of Wood End
and Long Point lights in 1998 from the U.S. Coast Guard |
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| following the completion of a three-year
restoration project at nearby Race Point Lighthouse, wasted little time
working to stabilize other aspects of the two remote light stations at
the tip of the Cape. According to Walker, Cape Cod Chapter volunteers
“re-roofed the two oil houses and repaired and painted the trim on each
building. These two projects |
Photo by Ann-Marie Trapani
(L to R) Cape Cod Chapter president Jim
Walker, ALF executive director Bob Trapani and Cape Cod Chapter
vice-president Bill
Fiske during an inspection of Wood End
Light on October 24, 2005
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took our
volunteers about a week to ten days to complete at the time.”
When you look out
over at Wood End or Long Point on your next visit to Cape Cod National
Seashore or to Provincetown Harbor, and you see the lights of these
sentinels flashing bright, remember the “keepers” of the Cape Cod Chapter
and consider supporting their efforts. These hardy volunteers are making the
sacrifices necessary to ensure these two isolated beacons continue to stand
tall and shine on for future generations despite a harsh environment that
would weaken the resolve of less dedicated individuals.
Wood End Photos...
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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Wood End Lighthouse on
Cape Cod, which was built in 1872
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Looking out from the lantern of Wood End
Light at the fog signal and the 1896 oil
house below |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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A view of the Vega
VRB-25 optic inside the lantern room that shows a red light...also, a
VM-100 fog detector is situated outside on the lantern gallery
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A view of the staircase
inside the brick-lined
Wood End Lighthouse
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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Long Point Photos...
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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The 38-foot Long Point Light at the tip
of
Cape Cod...
note the Pilgrim's Monument in the
background
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A view of the 1904 oil house and 1875
light tower at Long Point from atop the remnants of nearby
"Fort Useless"
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
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A view of the 300mm
optic atop Long Point Lighthouse
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
The ladder that leads to the lantern of
Long Point Light
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
The optic at Long Point
Lighthouse is now illuminated
by solar power
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ALF Historian Jeremy D'Entremont reflects on
a past visit to these lights and their rich history...
From a personal
standpoint, I always remember the sense of accomplishment I felt -- along
with the pain in my feet -- the time I walked all the way from
Provincetown's Pilgrim Monument through the West End to the breakwater that
leads to Wood End, then along the beach to Wood End Lighthouse. When you go
to either of these lighthouses on foot, you gain a sense of how isolated the
keepers and their families must have felt. I'm sure there were many pleasant
times that were enjoyed at both stations, but I have no doubt there were at
least as many scary times during storms and severe cold weather.
During a cold snap
in 1935, Keeper Douglas Shepherd was marooned at Wood End Light for weeks.
The /Boston Globe/ reported, "Keeper Shepherd has struggled vainly to
break through the arctic expanse that extends for miles beyond his light.
Several times he has attempted it, using axe and crowbar to attack the ice
blocks in his path, but each time he has been forced to turn back." Samuel
Soper Smith, keeper at Long Point during the famous "Portland Gale" of
November 1898, later remembered that day: "It looked as if we would be swept
away. The buildings shook and cracked ominously under the push of the
hurricane, but the greatest danger facing us was that of the waves." Smith
was ill at the time of the storm, but he struggled mightily against the wind
and snow to reach the fog bell tower so he could start the bell sounding.
His wife heroically kept the bell going through another severe storm.
These lighthouse
towers look lonely now with the keeper's houses gone, but it's important to
preserve them as reminders of Provincetown's glory days as an important
fishing port, and as a memorial to the keepers and families who endured many
hardships in service to safe navigation.
Jeremy D'Entremont |
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