Old-Time Lighthouses Face Threats, Neglect

HECETA HEAD, Ore., Jan. 20, 2007 — -- For 114 years, the lighthouse on this rocky point overlooking the turbulent Pacific Ocean has guided mariners to safety. Now, due to global positioning satellites and other modern navigational aids, the Heceta Head lighthouse is mainly a tourist attraction. The adjacent keeper's house has been turned into a successful bed-and-breakfast operation.

Other light stations are not so fortunate.

Farther down the coast, not far from Coos Bay, the Cape Arago lighthouse had its light extinguished a year ago. A padlocked chain link fence keeps the curious and looters from entering the property. A rickety, dilapidated old wooden bridge that crosses a ravine and leads to the facility was long ago deemed too dangerous for pedestrians.

Cape Arago is threatened with extinction. Unlike other lighthouse properties, no one has stepped up to save it.

Lighthouses on the East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast and Great Lakes have attracted history buffs for years. Now, given their advancing age, preservation of these icons of America's coastal landscape must be addressed or they could be lost forever.

With that in mind, ABC News recently interviewed Wayne Wheeler of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. Wheeler is the retired president of the society and an acknowledged expert. He spent 23 years with the Coast Guard in the "aids to navigation" field.

No one knows these magnificent structures and their history better than Wheeler. Here are the highlights of the interview.

Why is it important to "save" lighthouses?

It's important to save lighthouses as one of the only [and most prolific] examples of our maritime past. Most of the tall ships and dockside structures have passed over the horizon. Our country was built on martime, it expanded with shipping into the Great Lakes down the East Coast cross the Gulf of Mexico and up the West Coast. Lighthouses served this expansion and the shipping by lighting the way around dangerous obstructions and into safe harbor. It is amazing to me how little of our maritime history is recounted in schools. Foundations provide funds for bricks and mortar for projects, but very little for lighthouses.

Why are lighthouses threatened?

Some lighthouses are threatened mainly because of their remote locations and, on the East Coast, erosion. Remote offshore lighthouses like Goose Rocks in Maine are difficult to access. There are several like this in the Great Lakes and Alaska. Erosion examples are Sankaty Head, Nantucket Island and Montauk Point, N.Y.

How many lighthouses and light stations remain in the U.S. today?

There are 604 light stations in the country that still exist in various states of completeness. There are also old foundations of lighthouses that remain. We use the phrase "light station" as it encompasses all the buildings of a station. As an example, a tower may be missing, but the keeper's dwelling, oil house, fog signal building may survive and they are historically important.

How many have been lost?

We estimate that the government constructed 1,600 to 1,800 light stations over the years. Over the years some were abandoned as the needs of navigation changed, others were destroyed and not rebuilt, some were sold or given to other entities. It always has been a fluid situation and the period of time would be from 1716 [Boston lighthouse] to today.

How many have been preserved?

The Coast Guard still has over 400 light stations [some leased and licensed, some used for military personnel, etc]. Others are owned by other federal agencies [National Park Service, Navy, Fish & Wildlife Service, Forest Service], state parks, local historical societies and several by private individuals. It's hard to say just how many have been preserved by the above.

What are their current day uses?

Today, several lighthouses still serve as navigational aids, some are bed and breakfasts, others are museums, hostels, etc. And, as stated earlier housing for Coast Guard personnel. Three serve as quarters for Coast Guard admirals.

Has the government been involved in restoration efforts?

The Coast Guard has been preserving those under their control as funds allow. As I mentioned, my office found other entities to move in and preserve them. In this manner, they were preserved by nonfederal funds, protected [both the aids and the buildings] and opened to the public in some creative way [win, win, win situation]. The benefits to those preserving them is seeing an important part of our maritime history preserved.

Have private individuals taken over abandoned lighthouses and renovated them?

Until, probably, the GSA was created, lighthouses no longer needed by the government were made available to buy at action. This was primarily in the 19th and early 20th century. Until 2000, if the Coast Guard no longer needed the stations, one of two things occurred. (1) If the property was withdrawn from government land, it was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management, (2) If the property was purchased from a private party it was turned over to Government Services Agency (GSA). That agency sent notice [for 30 days] to all federal agencies. If no federal agency wanted it, then it went to the state in which it was located, then county, city, etc. If at the end of a year period none of the above wanted it, it was offered to the public by highest bid. We stopped this with the creation of the Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. Now everyone [federal, state, historical society, individuals] can submit a plan to the National Park Service [Maritime Initiative] and compete. The awardee must restore it to the secretary of Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation and make it available to the public in some creative way in "a reasonable amount of time."

Which organizations are at the forefront of lighthouse renovation and preservation?

The National Park Service, Coast Guard, Forest Service [6 or 7], some states [New Jersey and Florida are two of the top states], our society and numerous historical societies are at the forefront of lighthouse preservation.

What's become of lighthouse keepers?

I'm afraid the old keepers have also passed over the horizon. Civilian keepers started to fade out after the Coast Guard took over in 1939. The new guy on the block [Coast Guard] was a different animal. Often, "coasties" only stayed at one station for a few years before being tranferred to other units, so the lore and tradition was lost. Some civilians remained around into the 1950s and 1960s, but now they are gone.

How has the past been preserved?

We have hundreds of historical photos of lighthouses, tenders and lightships. Coast Guard Historian Bob Browning even has some film. The International Chimney Co. of Buffalo, N.Y., has footage of their moves of the Block Island [R.I.], Nauset Beach, Cape Cod [Highland] and Cape Hatteras lighthouses. Nauset Beach Preservation Society sells a video of their lighthouse move.

Where can we learn more about lighthouses?

There is a ton of information in our library and over the years there have been numerous articles in newspapers and magazines about lighthouses and preserving same. We were in Life Magazine [circa 1986] and an extensive article appeared in Smithsonian Magazine at about the same time.