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American Lighthouse Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 889
Wells, Maine 04090
207-646-0245
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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(This story originally appeared in the December 2006 issue
of Lighthouse Digest magazine and has been reprinted with permission)
NELL Volunteers Lend Many Hands for A Cape
Cod Beacon
By Tom
Kenworthy, “Regalhobo”
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On Friday Oct 20,
2006 nine hearty volunteer members from New England Lighthouse Lovers
(NELL), a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, met up with Jim
Walker, Chairman of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse
Foundation at the Race Point Station by Cape Cod’s small airport and
were transported to the isolated, but now restored Race Point
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Photo by Ron Foster
Long Point Lighthouse stands lonely
sentinel at the very tip of Cape Cod
overlooking Provincetown, MA
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Lighthouse. Upon arrival at Race Point Lighthouse NELL
members Lynne and Bob Kerber, Hilari Seery, Linda Speece, Ron Foster, Alan
Ells, and I were treated to a delicious chili dinner, with rice, cheese and
a salad. For dessert we were served brownies and apple strudel. All this was
prepared by NELL member and Chef Maureen Kitching, who was escorted to the
light by another NELL member, and proud husband, Reg Kitching.
These dedicated lighthouse
lovers, along with Bob Trapani, Jr., Executive Director of ALF, (to
be picked up at the Ranger Station in the a.m.) had a mission to accomplish
that weekend; to repaint Long Point and Wood End Lighthouses.
Upon rising at 6 a.m. we were
treated to a breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, real home fries (home made
I'll let you know), fruit, coffee, tea, |
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Volunteers from the New England
Lighthouse Lovers arrive at Long Point
Lighthouse on October 21, 2006
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milk, -
the list goes on. Finally, the time we all were waiting for. We piled
into the suburbans and after picking up Bob we all headed out to Long
Point Light. The trip was more difficult than expected.
Putting the vehicles into
low four-wheel drive and lowering the tire pressure (as recommended for
driving over sand) we headed out and passed |
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Wood End Light on our way to
Long Point Lighthouse. That’s when we started sliding toward the ocean and
sinking further and further into the sand. Stopping, we let more air out of
the tires bringing the pressure down to about 11 pounds per tire. After Jim
made sure all tires were at the same pressure we tried again and slowly but
surely started making headway. Finally arriving at Long Point Lighthouse we
all took the expected close-up photos and climbed the light.
After taking our "before"
group picture we unloaded the "burbs" and started the daunting job of
bringing the light back to life. With the over 40-mile an hour winds, we had
to put the ladders up several times, finally |
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having to resort to
someone holding on to them as the wind kept blowing them over, causing
one to strike a glancing blow to me and almost hitting Ron and Reg on
the head. Lighthouse work can be dangerous. It was almost like the wind
was saying, "I'm not going to let you help this light to look good
again".
After several hours went
by and the ladies having finished the trim on the oil house we took a
break for a lunch of grilled hotdogs and hamburgers with cookies for
dessert.
After lunch we continued
our job with Hilari and Linda going topside to paint the exterior of the
lantern |
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Bob Kerber works on scrapping
loose paint from the trim of
Long Point's oil house
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room as Bob Trapani continued to lie down on the job. Actually, while lying
on his stomach, he was painting the underside of the gallery, almost hanging
upside down to complete the job. I asked him if I could help him and he said
no…. I said a little prayer of thanks, because if he said yes I would have
been in for it.
Alan, Bob & Lynn K and I
continued working on the light, keeping a low profile painting the bottom
half, with Ron, Reg and Bob T taking the high |
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Photo courtesy of Ron Foster
Reg Kitching (topside) helps
(L to R) Bob Trapani and Ron
Foster with the ladder work
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road. They say timing is
everything and we started running out of paint as the day was slowly
coming to an end. We stopped work for the day to allow for clean up
and our "after" group picture. We all piled into the "burbs" again and
headed back driving over the sand bar, this time without incident.
We arrived back at Race
Point just in time to see the sun disappear over the horizon, which did
not allow us time to take any pictures of what was a beautiful sunset.
That night, after climbing the beautiful Race Point Light, we feasted on
roast pork loin, chicken teriyaki, roasted red potatoes,
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Julianne carrots, homemade apple sauce, gravy and a nice
homemade “lighthouse cake”.
Some of us had to return home
the next day but the rest of the volunteers finished up Long Point’s
painting project. Unfortunately, time ran out and the lighthouse lovers
couldn’t make it to Wood End Lighthouse, however, we are planning on
returning next year to dress that one up.
Following are some personal
observations. We all know that due to the remote location of most
lighthouses some of the population with little to |
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do, like to see what they
can damage and or destroy. Long Point is not an exception. Try as they
might, the Coast Guard cannot prevent this from happening, as we
discovered when we arrived at Long Point. Vandals were able to break the
protective covering of the solar panels, damaging several panels. We did
find a nice size rock nearby that was |
Photo by Ron Foster
A beautiful sunset at
Race Point Light Station
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more than likely used to cause the damage.
Vandals aren’t the only
problem these remote lights face. I never would have believed the amount of
sand that is blown into and onto the lights in that type of environment,
which now that I think about it, is most of them. Remember the wind was at a
steady 40-mph that day. The sand was thick, even inside the base of the
light and went up the exterior sides at least a foot in many areas, making
it extremely difficult to remove for painting. Sand damage is something I
never even gave a second thought to. But it happens and it adds to the “wear
and tear” of our beacons.
Reflecting back, it is obvious that a small group of people
can make a BIG difference. Just look at the before and after pictures if you
need any |
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Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
Alan Ells works on applying a new
coat of paint to the exterior gallery
outside the lantern
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proof. Yes, it
was tough work and many aches and pains sprouted up, but they worked
themselves out and were gone in a few days. It was a great weekend with
a lot of fun, especially the camaraderie, plus something very worthwhile
was accomplished.
It is
important to remember, if we don’t |
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do something to
help our lighthouses, they too, unfortunately, will disappear, just like
those aches and pains we got trying to help preserve them.
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
"It is obvious that a small group of
people
can make a BIG difference." -- Tom Kenworthy
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Posted: 12/6/06 |
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