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Save
Our Lights!
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American Lighthouse Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 565
Rockland,
Maine 04841
Phone: 207-594-4174
info@lighthousefoundation.org
The American Lighthouse Foundation is a
Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization dedicated to the preservation of America's historic lighthouses.
SEARCH ALF WEB
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Walking Through the Door of History at Avery
Point Lighthouse
By Ron Foster
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| When the New England Lighthouse Lovers
(NELL) was originally organized in 1998 I was asked to make a
presentation about Avery Point Lighthouse in Groton, CT (my hometown) at
the very first organizational meeting. You would have thought that my
love for lighthouses and the fact I was living in Groton for over twenty
years at the time that |
Photo by Ron Foster
Avery Point Lighthouse overlooking
Fishers Island Sound and the Thames River
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my knowledge of
Avery Point Light would be vast. Nothing could be further from the truth
and, in fact, I didn’t even realize that it existed.
As I set out to gather information about this structure, which is located on
the University of Connecticut Avery Point Campus, I learned of a grass
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Photo by Ron Foster
The tower received its
historically accurate new
door in February 2006
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roots effort started by Jim Streeter and Dale Treadway to
save this historic beacon. It was at that point that I contacted Jim,
who also was a local historian, and arranged to pick up materials that
would inform me about the history of this lighthouse and aid me in
teaching my audience about the grassroots effort to save it. Little did
I know that this meeting would result in my commitment for the next
eight years to help save, restore and relight the Avery Point
lighthouse, while allowing me to gain some very close friendships.
NELL’s very first public-invited meeting was held,
coincidently, on the UCONN Campus at Avery Point |
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in April of 1999
and our very first speaker was Elinor DeWire, teacher, lighthouse historian,
author and dear friend. As she so often does, Elinor inspired NELL with her
love for lighthouses and reiterated the need for all of us to work for the
preservation of lighthouses so that future generations could also learn from
and enjoy them. I will always remember how Elinor refused the speaker fee
that day and encouraged us to donate the money instead to the restoration
efforts of Avery Point lighthouse.
As NELL grew in
size the organization was also able to raise and donate substantial gifts of
money to help various lighthouse restoration projects |
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throughout New England. In October of 2002 NELL
donated $1,500 to Avery Point Lighthouse Society for the purchase of a
door for the tower at Avery Point. That seems like such a long time ago
and the struggle to restore this lighthouse has not been an easy
one. But in spite of the many setbacks, in February 2006 the door to
this tower was finally installed. It looks beautiful and is an exact
replica of the original door that had once adorned this tower.
The Avery Point lighthouse is almost 100 percent restored
and it looks as stately as it did in 1944 when it was completed and the
beacon first lit. The last 70 feet of the new memorial walkway leading
to the tower will be |
Photo by Ron Foster
The Avery Point Lighthouse is scheduled
to be relit during a ceremony on 10/15/06
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installed in the spring of 2006
and hopefully the tower will be fitted with a new beacon and relit by
October 2006. This will be the culmination of the efforts of so many people
and will be the crown jewel on the UCONN Avery Point Campus. This tower will
once again be alive and help guide mariners to safe harbor.
I should note that the community loves the 800-plus foot memorial brick
walkway and the requests to purchase bricks never ceased, even though the
original shutoff date for ordering them came in May of 2005. It is for that
reason, and the fact that additional funds are needed to help maintain the
lighthouse and eventually build a small museum inside of it, that the brick
sales have just recently started up again. If you wish to learn more about
this program and print out an order form you may do so at the APLS website:
www.averypointlight.com
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Photo by Ron Foster
The half-million dollar restoration of
Avery Point
Lighthouse stands as a tribute to the
dedication
and spirit of the volunteers that comprise
the
Avery Point Lighthouse Society, a
chapter of the
American Lighthouse Foundation
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