Portsmouth Harbor Light Shines More Than a
Guiding Light at Christmas
By Bob Trapani,
Jr.
Seafarers can
count on the U.S. Coast Guard to keep a navigational light shining
bright inside a lighthouse like Portsmouth Harbor Light in New Castle,
New Hampshire. But at Christmastime these past few years, this historic
structure has shown more than a steady green beacon from its lantern –
it’s been a festive sight for all who see it from land and sea.
Thanks in part
to the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse (FPHL), the sentinel is
once again all decked out for the holidays this year, sporting a merry
appearance that offers mariners a seasonal salutation on the Piscataqua
River, and the same for admiring landlubbers from Fort Constitution and
the nearby shorelines of New Castle, NH, and Kittery, Maine.
Photo by William Marshall
Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse showing more
than its fixed
green navigational light for
the Christmas holiday
“The light display
is intended as a greeting to mariners, but it’s also our way of sharing the
spirit of the season with residents of the local community, as well as the
Coast Guard personnel stationed right next to the lighthouse at Station
Portsmouth Harbor,” said Jeremy D’Entremont, FPHL operations manager.
Done up right,
there is something magical and heartwarming about a lighthouse decorated for
Christmas, and the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, a chapter of the
American Lighthouse Foundation, have shown they have what it takes to
transform a utilitarian tower into an enchanting beacon of colors during the
holiday season.
Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont
The lighthouse decorations greet
people by land and sea
Portsmouth
Harbor Light’s jolly appearance adds a certain measure of vibrancy to an
otherwise automated tower and its wintertime surroundings of
cold-feeling gray and brown tones.
“Dressing up”
the beacon’s familiar daymark with festive strings of lights and
seasonal greens also
stokes the
imaginations of young and old alike. Few structures speak to the public more
eloquently of benevolence and selfless service than a lighthouse, and this
symbolism somehow seems more meaningful in our hearts during the Christmas
season of giving.
“Not only are the
decorations festive and show our holiday spirit, I think it also shows the
community that even during our ‘off season’, the lighthouse is still
important,” said Ross Tracy, Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse
chairman. “Decorating the structure allows us to draw more visual attention
to it than usual.”
But decorating a
lighthouse doesn’t happen without a good supply of this same spirit of
giving by caring volunteers.
As Ross Tracy
notes, “This project has been informal over the past few seasons and
only a handful of dedicated volunteers have helped it along.”
One volunteer
in particular, William Marshall, has served as the leading catalyst for
the lighthouse Christmas decorations.
“During the
past few years, FPHL volunteer and board of directors member William
Marshall has taken the lead in the decorating of the lighthouse during
the Christmas season,” said D’Entremont. “William buys just the right
combination of lights, and he does most of the work
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
William Marshall installing a
string of lights on the lighthouse
of installing them
himself. In recent years, we’ve started integrating LED (light emitting
diodes) into the display.”
For William
Marshall, decorating the lighthouse each season is important to him. Not one
to rest on his laurels, he has continued to work to improve the Christmas
lights display annually.
“Each year, I’ve
tried to add a little more,” said Marshall. “At first, it was just a single
string of lights around the top rail and a rope light around the door frame.
The next year I purchased a long set of LED lights to add a second string at
the top, and we also placed lights in the windows of the tower. Last year I
added two lighted wreaths for the windows, and this year a large lighted
wreath for the door.”
Where did the
motivation originate for Marshall to decorate Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse
for the Christmas holiday?
“Seeing other
decorated lighthouses, especially Nubble Lighthouse (Cape Neddick, ME), made
me feel that we should be doing something as well,” said Marshall. “I would
personally like to see it become a bigger event that can bring the
lighthouse more publicity in the future. In any event, it’s just fun to
install the lights.”
This year, the
effort to decorate Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse for Christmas received a
helping hand from nearby friends – the men and
U.S. Coast Guard Photo
Coast Guard Station Portsmouth
crewmembers pose with the wreath
before hoisting it onto the
Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse
women of Coast
Guard Station Portsmouth.
The Friends of
Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse may have supplied bright colored lights and
other holiday decorations, but Coast Guard Station Portsmouth added a
festive touch of green to the light tower in the form of a large wreath
bearing crossed anchors.
The wreath was
placed on the seaward side of the tower and greets mariners
in a fine, merry
spirit as shipping traffic passes the lighthouse and transits up the busy
Piscataqua River to local ports of call.
“I was extremely
pleased to see the wreath added to the lighthouse by the personnel at Coast
Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor this year,” said D’Entremont. “Everyone at
the station has always been cooperative and supportive of our efforts, and
the decorated lighthouse stands as a symbol of the cooperation between our
group and the Coast Guard.”
D’Entremont went
on to note, “I hope in the future FPHL might be able to do even more on a
cooperative basis with the Coast Guard, such as inviting our members to a
special lighting and wreath-raising ceremony.”
Tracy
concurred, saying, “I would love to see this turn into a regular yearly
event and involve the community, the Coast Guard, and the entire group
of FPHL volunteers.”
For Christmas
2009, one thing is for sure. The combined efforts of the Friends of
Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse and the United States Coast Guard have
added another element of “light” to help guide the hearts of all of us
this Christmas season.
May its
symbolism encourage us to keep with the deep-rooted lighthouse tradition
of neighbor helping neighbor – both those we know and love, and those we
may never meet but who need the light of compassion just the same.
Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont
The lighthouse looking festive with the
wreath adorning the seaside face of the tower
