Volunteers Complete Lantern Replacement
Project at Sandy Neck Lighthouse
Sandy Neck Lighthouse at the entrance to Barnstable
Harbor on Cape Cod stood sentinel for the past 75 years without a
lantern, which was removed in 1932, but thanks to the volunteer Sandy
Neck Lighthouse Restoration Committee, that has all changed.
A five-year journey to restore a lantern atop the
‘headless’ Sandy Neck Lighthouse was realized in fall 2007 when the
final touches were completed, bringing to a close a dream of a lot of
people on Cape Cod, including Ron S. Jansson, chairman for the Sandy
Neck Lighthouse Restoration Committee (SNLRC).
The Cape Cod Times explained the connection Ron
Jansson has with the lighthouse, “There’s a saying that history tends to
repeat itself.
SNLRC Photo
Dana Green (top), Russell Loud and Mark
Thompson work on completing the installation of a lantern atop Sandy
Neck Light
Sometimes it
predicts the future. More than a half-century ago, a 5-year-old boy and his
grandfather were rowing past Sandy Neck Lighthouse in a dory when the boy
asked his grandfather, ‘What’s wrong with that lighthouse?’ ‘Why is it
broke?’”
The newspaper
article went on to say, “Ron Jansson fondly remembers that day, and his
grandfather, as he recounts how the Sandy Neck Lighthouse
SNLRC Photo
(L to R) Jeff Baer, Mark Thompson, Mike
Robinson and Russell Loud assemble the sections of the cast-iron lantern
Restoration Committee got its start. ‘He turned to me, he
always had an impish sense of humor, and with half a smile on his face,
he says, ‘I don’t know, maybe someday you can fix it.’”
“From that incident on Jansson had a very – he wouldn’t
call it a love affair – but he had
remarkable respect for the ocean and nautical things.” Today Ron Jansson’s
question about what was wrong with the lighthouse when he was a little boy
has been answered – and he helped play a major role in this historic
achievement.
The Sandy Neck Lighthouse Restoration Committee, a chapter of the American
Lighthouse Foundation, raised over $75,000 for the project, which included
generous contributions from the Lyndon Lorusso Foundation and American
Express.
SNLRC volunteer Jim Walker was able to obtain the casting patterns from
the Great
Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, previously made for the
restoration of the lantern at St. Helena Lighthouse on the Great Lakes,
in order to replicate a new lantern for Sandy Neck.
Contractor
Dana Green, with assistance from SNLRC volunteers, installed the new
lantern, which required the team
Photo by Russell Loud
A view from inside the new lantern
during the process of assembly
of preservationists to carry 10
sections of the lantern, each weighing 170 pounds, up the spiral staircase
of the 45-foot lighthouse. New storm panes and a replicated lantern door
were later installed.
Russell Loud, who participated in the lantern restoration, noted, “It was
fun – a chance to do something you can’t do every day and to be a part of
history at the same time. I recall looking in the rear view mirror as we
left the lighthouse. Seeing the lantern atop the lighthouse was the reward
for our efforts.”
Photo by Russell Loud
A view from the top of the lantern, with
the ventilator ball about ready to be installed
A view of Sandy Neck
Lighthouse prior to the lantern being restored atop the tower
Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont
Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.
A view of Sandy Neck
Lighthouse after the SNLRC established a new lantern atop the tower
