Saving lighthouses
requires a team effort, something that the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor
Lighthouse understand and appreciate. Just what type of person chooses to
get involved with lighthouse preservation? The answer is people like you! No
one conveys this fact better than the FPHL volunteers themselves, who, in
their own words, describe the deep sense of satisfaction that is derived
from “giving back” to Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse.
“We can't accomplish anything
without volunteers. I'm always more grateful than I can say to the people
who give up a Sunday to help give
visitors a positive experience.
We've been blessed with a wonderful core group of people who have
volunteered at our open houses and other events. It can be a long,
tiring day at the open houses, but I've seen nothing but positive energy
from them. I'd like to find more volunteers from the New
Castle/Portsmouth area, and it would be nice to have a larger volunteer
pool to draw from so that we can have the lighthouse open more often in
the future. But we've really been lucky to have such good people
involved for the past four years.”
– Jeremy D’Entremont,
FPHL
President
Photo by Bob Trapani
A view of the keeper's dwelling through a
porthole in the
watchroom of the lighthouse
“I love the
lighthouse at Fort Constitution in New Castle. I was born and raised in
Portsmouth and as a young girl I rode my bicycle past the fort and always
gazed at the lighthouse. What a beautiful sight... a white lighthouse
w/black trim standing so stately against the blue water and blue sky. After
living in other parts of the country I returned to New Hampshire in 1998.
Family ties were always on the NH seacoast so I returned many times before
actually moving back to the coast. I then read a newspaper article asking
people to attend a meeting and form a chapter if they liked lighthouses. I
thought that sounded good to me. Sure enough, through Jeremy's experience
and hard work, we the group, started our little chapter. My favorite events
are the tours. I am usually at the base of the lighthouse and I take charge
of the wonderful volunteers. We all need our lunch breaks and change
our station if needed. It is such a pleasure to be at the water's
edge standing beside this beautiful beacon in New Castle NH. It is a great
way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I love it!”
– Joanne C.
Yeaton, FPHL Vice-President
“Volunteering
makes me feel like I have a small part in keeping this history alive. It's
also special to me because of Connie Small who was my friend and the wife of
the last lightkeeper at Portsmouth. I can help keep her dream of
conservation and education about the lighthouse alive by volunteering.”
–
Sharon Mills, FPHL Secretary
“I
consider it a duty or responsibility that I have to future generations to
help with the preservation of this historic lighthouse in any way that I
can, although I consider it an honor to also be able to stand in the same
spot and climb the same stairs to the top that the keepers of
Photo by Ann-Marie Trapani
Portsmouth Harbor Light's oil house
yesteryear climbed. Connie Small
has also been a great inspiration to me and I will always remember her
telling me that we needed to
preserve our historic beacons for
the future.”
– Paul Conlin,
FPHL Publicity / Newsletter Chair
“I started out photographing
lighthouses (as I think a lot of us do!) and when I started getting involved
with volunteering and helping out, I was interested in the people and the
history of the lights. The more stories and tales of lighthouses and their
keepers that I had heard the more I wanted to help preserve their history.
I find it hard to believe that anyone could let a lighthouse crumble to
nothing or suffer from neglect. There are more than enough people in the
world with heart enough to help maintain and preserve our beacons.”
–
Ross Tracy, FPHL Volunteer
“Volunteering is a way for me to physically help in
lighthouse preservation because I'm not able to give a lot
monetarily. I'm also able to share with others what my family and I
enjoy doing so much--visiting lighthouses! I had my son with me
yesterday (May 29th open house) and my daughter has helped in
the past
Photo by Ann-Marie Trapani
Portsmouth Harbor Light's spiral
staircase
leads visitors to the watchroom
too. Hopefully their exposure now will inspire them to
inspire future generations to preserve our nation's history. Besides, you
can't beat a beautiful afternoon on the water within eyeshot of three
lighthouses!”
–
Jeff Fletcher, FPHL Volunteer
“Lighthouses have fascinated me for
years and when I saw a piece in the local paper about the opportunity to
volunteer, I immediately contacted Jeremy. His enthusiasm is catching!
While our band of volunteers is quite small, it is a wonderful group of
people. I enjoy knowing them, being at the lighthouse so others can see
it and having the opportunity to participate in the effort to preserve the
light.”
