To date, 82 lighthouses have been transferred to public entities and nonprofits, and 66 have been sold for $8.2 million total. Although the area is no longer populated by Indians who believe in the evil spirit of Hobomock, for years tales have abounded of strange moaning, tapping, and even mysterious polishing of the lens by ghostly hands. Eventually, they will probably divest of almost every lighthouse property, with a few exceptions., DEntremont predicts that in 50 years only a small number of lighthouses, if any, will still be used for any navigation. A crew of Portuguese fishermen swore they saw a figure hanging on to an outer ladder shouting at them in their own language to keep away, and many local fishermen have reported hearing moans and cries for help coming from the base of the lighthouse. Though the government has the right to reject all bids if it believes a fair market price has not been achieved, the $78,000 bid was approved a few weeks after the auction closed, and the lighthouse was awarded to Arthur Girard a real estate developer from Portland, Maine. He amassed 13 units in a luxury Boston high-rise to create for himself a spacious, highly individualized home occupying three floors. We always find the answers by asking how they did it back in the day. In 1910, a keeper named Elliot Hadley described the conditions he saw during a storm: Ive looked up at solid water rushing in toward the ledges. Saugerties Lighthouse on the Hudson River, in upstate New York, offers overnight accommodation. Bobby Sager. Outside's long reads email newsletter features our strongest writing, most ambitious reporting, and award-winning storytelling about the outdoors. Gulls circle round in clear skies, and time slows. Waller and I gaze from the top deck through the windows of his seaswept kingdom at the shoreline towns, historic shipping ports that arose here in the first place because of the water, and we look toward Boston Light. Its Graves third bridgethe first one washed away in the Blizzard of 1978; the second was destroyed in the Perfect Storm (as titled in the book and movie) of 1991. The US General Services Administration put the lighthouse up for auction in 2014. Eight months pregnant with my father, my grandma pointed a skiff out into the teeth of a noreaster to tie down her boat, the Little Gull, under the flash of the light. My dad grew up in the harbor the light protects, and my grandmother trolled for striped bass with a handline out past the ledge. Not wanting to see the lens returned to the Coast Guard, the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce held a raffle that generated $2,000, enough to pay the premium for two years. . The Blizzard of 1978 helped write the last chapter in Boon Islands history as a manned light. At the bridge, I can finally move laterally, my soles sinking into the planks, and I tell Waller, with only 13 feet left, I dont like heights. We cross the bridge to the former oil room he turned into a guest house. A few years ago, the mooring was ripped out of the ocean floor by a gale, and a breaker dragged Dave Wallers boat, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter he bought used, into the shoal below the lighthouse. Some sit submerged under the waters of the Chesapeake Bay or are about to topple over in the Great Lakes. About 100 years ago there were more than 1,000, according to the U.S. Lighthouse Society, and now 850 are still standing. In the case of the lens built for Minots Ledge, the number 143 was produced by eight flash panels that created three groups of flashes: the first showing one flash, the next four flashes, and the last three flashes. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff Graves Light sits on a rocky ledge in the middle of Boston Harbor, surrounded by water. One promising exception is Graves Light Station, offshore from Boston, which has outlasted the Perfect Storm, among many poundings. William H. Swift, the builder of the lighthouse, felt compelled to respond to the published reports with a letter to the editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser. Lives in Montgomery, Texas. Christopher Sager, Age 41. aka Chris Sager. On May 16, 2012, Boon Island Lighthouse was made available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 to eligible federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, and community development organizations to be used for educational, recreational, cultural, or historic preservation purposes. Last summer we went back and piled cousins and aunts into a rented house. Meanwhile the numbers of lighthouses are declining. The new lights characteristic was fixed white, and a fog bell mounted on the gallery encircling the lantern room, was tolled once every thirty seconds as needed. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, "Light Hearted." He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org When I reach Snowman at her home base in the Boston suburb of Weymouth, she tells me, Were seeing the most erosion down in the valley in between them. I kind of feel guilty buying it, taking it, and making it mine, because it was built with public money, but it was put up for free to non-profits first and there were no takers.. Bobby Sager Team Sager | Sager Family Foundation Boston, Massachusetts, United States 493 followers 448 connections Join to connect Sager Family Foundation Yale University Experience. Grounds/tower closed. Therefore on these considerations I feel myself inadequate to the task, unless government will supply me with some of the above stated articles.. Otis Walsh, an assistant at the lighthouse waiting for Tornberg to relieve him, was watching the men approach and radioed for help when he knew they were in trouble. In 2000, the GSA, the Coast Guard and the Department of the Interior passed The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, an amendment to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. I barely know how to read a nautical chart (although there is an app for that), and sometimes, even though its irrational, that feels like a loss. Along the way, hes fostered micro-lending in Third World countries, befriended the Dalai Lama (A great sense of humor), sat with Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, and replaced the ragtag soccer balls used by African children with brand-new indestructible yellow ones. Second Assistant: Joseph Antoine (1850 1851), Andrew W. Williams (1860 1861), William S. Taylor (1861 1865), Alden Simmons (1865 1870), Albert H. Burdick (1870 1874), Wallace Willcutt (1874 1876), Thomas J. Sheridan (1876 1877), Amiel Studley (1877 1879), Joseph B. Vinal (1879 1880), Alonzo Smith (1880 1881), Frank F. Martin (1881), Daniel M. Ryan (1881 1882), Albert H. Burdick (1881 1883), Joseph Jason, Jr. (1883), Joseph E. Frates (1883 1892), Winfield L. Creed (1892 1894), George A. Jamieson (1894 1895), Maynard F. Rush (1895 1896), Roscoe G. Lopaus (1896 1905), Charles G. Everett (1905), Levi B. Clark (1905 1909), Octavius H. Reamey (1909 1910), Vivian A. Currier (1910), Andrew Tullock (1910 1913), Henry M. Bailey (1913 1915), Otto W. Newman (1915), Charles R. Albrecht (1915 1916), Winfield S. Thompson (1916 ), John M. Scharff (at least 1917), Whitman (at least 1917), Charles A. Lyman (1919 1921), Francis R. Macy (1922), Per F. Tornberg (1922 1923), George H. Fitzpatrick (1924 1925), Pierre Nadeau (1925), Harold L. Havender (1926 1927), Samuel Perry ( 1928), Llewellyn D. Rogers (1928 1930), Stanley M. Brackett (1931), Stanley M. Brackett (1932 1933),Otis E. Walsh (at least 1936), Elton H. Hegarty (1937 1938), Gustav H. Larson (1938 1939), Patrick J. Im not nearly so optimistic about the ones that are remote and inaccessible to the public, many of which will eventually face demolition by neglect., Many land-based lighthouses and the soil around them are contaminated with lead paint that must be remediated before someone saves them. In winter, ice covered the stone buildings, even capping the chimney of the dwelling on one occasion. His own piece of the Big Bang sits near the Harley-Davidson motorcycle that music legend Sting gave him as a gift, not far from a bathroom ripped from a Boeing 747 and reconstructed high above Tremont Street. Head: Benjamin Wane (1811), David Oliver (1811 1812), Thomas Hanna (1812 1816), Eliphalet Grover (1816 1839), Joseph P. Junkins (1839 1840), Mark Dennet (1840 1841), John S. Thompson (1841 1843), John Kennard (1843 1844), Isidore S. Thompson (1844), John Kennard (1844 1846), Nathaniel Baker (1846 1849), John S. Thompson (1849 1853), Hiram Tobey (1853), Caleb L. Goold (1853 1854), George Bowden (1854 1855), Josiah Tobey (1855 1859), Nathaniel Baker (1859), Joseph H. Hart (1859 1861), George B. Wallace (1861), Benjamin Bridges (1861 1864), R.C. Several keepers were convinced that the ghosts of the two doomed assistant keepers still resided in the lighthouse, sending signals to each other, cleaning the lens, and warning others of the dangers presented by Minots Ledge. They try to put them in the hands of groups that will keep them open to the public, but sometimes, like in Minots case, no public entity wants the responsibility. A Coast Guard motorboat from Allerton finally reached the scene and picked up all of the men, who were three miles past the lighthouse at this point and unable to return to the mainland due to the wind. Two lighthouse keepers were killed when it went down and theyre said to haunt the new house. It says a lot about Dave Waller that he and Bobby Sager have worked out an agreement, making Sager a partner in the Graves Light project. To find the money, he and his wife mortgaged their house, as did his mom, to help them out. Vandals subsequently entered the lighthouse and smashed sections of the second-order lens. First Assistant: Joseph Wilson (1850 1851), Thatcher W. Ryder (1860), Andrew W. Williams (1861 1862), Thomas Bates II (1862 1864), Israel Vinal (1864 1865), Levi L. Creed (1865 1866), John A. Pratt (1866 1868), Levi L. Creed (1868 1874), Albert H. Burdick (1874 1877), Thomas J. Sheridan (1877 1880), Joseph B. Vinal (1880 1881), Alonzo Smith (1881), Nathan S. Hudson (1881), Frank W. Thomas (1881 1883), Albert H. Burdick (1883 1892), Joseph E. Frates (1892 1909), Levi B. Clark (1909 1910), Octavius H. Reamy (1910 1915), Henry M. Bailey (1915 at least 1916), Charles R. Albrecht (at least 1917), Roland F. Bassett (at least 1919 at least 1921), Francis R. Macy (1922 1923),Per F. Tornberg (1923 1924), George H. Fitzpatrick (1925 1927), Harold L. Havender (1927), Anthony Souza (at least 1935 at least 1936), Elton H. Hegarty (1938 1940), Patrick J. Although William C. Williams remained at Boon Island longer than any other keeper, his mind was not immune from the effects of the storms that often raked the island: The 1888 Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board described the structures at the station. Fortunately for Graves, we really care a lot about it.. (8 minutes) Bobby Sager thinks in bulk. The film, also starring the lighthouse historian Jeremy DEntremont and Ford Reiche, who took on a similar extensive restoration of the Halfway Rock Light Station, in Casco Bay, Maine, is directed by Rob Apse, with a portion of the proceeds preserving Whaleback Lighthouse, at the mouth of the Piscatequa River in Kittery, Maine. And, with that, the Sager Family Traveling Foundation and Roadshow was born. On October 13th, Bobby Sager, Polaroids chairman, won the auction and bought the lighthouse for $222,000. To improve the conditions described in 1888, the exterior of the stone dwelling was torn out and rearranged, and a frame upper story was added to the dwelling. Australia. Outside a lot. Sager acquired Minots Ledge Lighthouse at auction later in 2014 and then Michigans Grays Reef Lighthouse in 2016. Lewis, who submitted a report in 1842 detailing the more than forty vessels that had met their end in the previous decade as a result of the ledge. Of course placement of the granite blocks was conducted only at low tide when the sea was calm; even so, many times construction workers were swept off the rocks by the waves. As one keeper here recently said, I thought all one had to know how to do out here was to clean, paint, and polish brass, but I have found out that one has to be doctor, painter, steeplejack, glazier, boatman, gasoline engineer, electrician, stonecutter and even a cook when the women folks leave us in the fall., Miriam (Dolby) Hammel, wife of a coastguardsman stationed on the island during World War II to watch for German U-boats, had fonder memories of Boon Island. He plans to knock down one ceiling to combine two floors into one, transforming it into a panoramic conference room sort of a majestic aquatic meeting space. Captain F.A. He found eight dead black ducks that had smashed into the tower, and four more on the rocks below. The only reason I ever wanted to make money was to be able to make choices. from Minot. Shad Sager Overview Shad Gary Sager has been associated with one company, according to public records. Graves Light, a historic lighthouse in Boston Harbor, is privately owned by David Waller and a partner, Bobby Sager, and under renovation to preserve it. When I accepted the post, I closed my ears against the reports of the former keeper, treating them (as I now find) too lightly, and here I shall remain so long as a vestige of the lighthouse remains; but the truth must be told. Use The Coast Guard has already divested the vast majority of offshore lighthouses, says DEntremont. Salted cod, sea fowl, and lobsters ranked high in the keepers diets, though lobster was far from being a delicacy. The underside for the placement of the fresnel lens, Graves Light. I heard a plane just now, but therell be days when theres just the rise and fall of the tide and the wind.. Join Outside+ to get Outside magazine, access to exclusive content, 1,000s of training plans, and more. Pier or Breakwater Lights in Harbors. I dont have to fill in all the boxes before I decide to do something, for better or worse.. Log In. This light is best viewed from the water, though distant views are possible Head: Isaac Dunham (1849 1850), John W. Bennett (1850 1851), Joshua Wilder, Jr. (1860 1861), James J. Minots light has been giving people feelings since it was built in 1860. 3. The tower itself and its fourteen windows, which were sealed shut, were leaky. 265 to 440 We make our way on up the tower, where Waller shows me the original blueprints of Graves, then pulls out ledgers containing 800 pages of old keepers logs, handwritten in India ink and printed by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. His globetrotting children, now 25 and 22, have learned this important lesson: Poor people are happy with almost anything. Rich people? In 1890, the stations cracked 1,200-pound bell was recast and placed atop a newly completed stone and brick oil house that measured sixteen by fourteen feet. Turn left on The act sets a high bar for ongoing and pricey preservation and education. Its 36 degrees out, and the sweeping waves splashing up make the scene even more surreal. The solitude and thunderous crashing of the waves drove more than one keeper insane. I want to live the fullest possible life.. Im not sure if its the romance, or the ghosts, but its always drummed up a kind of fascination. Following some competition, Boon Islands original second-order Fresnel Writer, Editor, Skier. The lighthouse was twenty-five feet in diameter at its base, twelve feet in diameter at the top, and 118 feet high to the base of its lantern. But what happens when the king dies? Order During 1842, civil engineer I.W.P. The island is now owned by philanthropist and lighthouse enthusiast Bobby Sager. What kind of a guy can buy a lighthouse? When no interested party was found to assume ownership, Minots Ledge Lighthouse was placed on the auction block on June 25, 2014. The island is a bare rock; communication with the coast is infrequent in winter, and the keepers have had to store their vegetables and provisions in the halls adjoining their bed-rooms. The same report also noted that the vibration of the slender tower had been checked by installing six iron ties with struts that were attached to the top of the lantern and anchored to the masonry 40 feet below the watch-room deck.. I was scared out in that placeIt was an awful life., On August 20, 1932, a newspaper printed a letter about the life of a keeper at Boon Island. Tower closed. Morris, his wife, their two-year-old son, and two coastguardsmen sought refuge in a small, sturdy structure, and a helicopter was dispatched to drop food to them after the waves subsided. During the early 1930s, Fred Batty was an assistant keeper at Boon Island. See Photos. Hanna later returned to the service as keeper at Franklin Island. Their goal? 175 steps were required to climb the tower, a task the keepers had to perform several times each night to trim and fill the lamps, often toting heavy containers of lamp oil. Ive been knocked down by it on the wharf beside the light, and opening a window to look out more than halfway [65 feet] up the tower, Ive had as much as three buckets-full dashed in my face.. In December 1892, the British Schooner Gold Hunter wrecked on Boon Island with the temperature at four degrees below zero. Pakistan. On August 22, 1860, the towers second-order Fresnel lens was test lighted, but the formal establishment of the light did not occur until November 15, 1960, when Minots Ledge Lightship was withdrawn. In the old days, a light keeper lit the lens and hand-cranked weights to rotate the light, each sending out an identification signal or patternGravess is two white flashes every twelve secondsto guide mariners to shore, back where we came from in East Boston. Minots blinks 143, so people call it the I Love You Light, and before Ray J made it a bad R&B song, my parents would sign letters and then send texts 143. The new owner is Bobby Sager, a lighthouse enthusiast and philanthropist with enough assets to fund a thorough restoration of the tower. The new owner is Bobby Sager, a lighthouse enthusiast and philanthropist with enough assets to fund a thorough restoration of the tower. Shoals, Reefs, Harbor Lights, Islands in Rivers and Harbors. * Newburyport Harbor Range Front (relocated) 1873. We boiled every bit of what we drank or bathed with. With . He even salvaged a stanchion railing from a World War II minesweeper for the mahogany deck. [4] 6 Flannan Isles Lighthouse Scotland These were good precautions, but unfortunately they couldnt avert all danger. During a brief lull at the outset of the storm, Keeper Bennett had rowed to the mainland to see about purchasing a new boat for the station, but his two assistant keepers, Joseph Wilson and Joseph Antoine, were in the tower fearing for their lives. 2nd Part of that is nostalgia. Lets talk about something more serious, more substantial, suggested Sager, 62, sporting a gray T-shirt, dark slacks, and stocking feet. He says he didnt have any solid reason for buying it, just that same deep-seated nostalgia and a long-standing but loose family tie. (Photo: Javaris Johnson/Snipezart). In addition to the two dwellings, one of which was fashioned out of an old barn, the inshore station also featured a storehouse, boathouse, and a blacksmiths shop. On January 26, 1839, the Grovers were forced to retreat to the Light House as a place of safety as the sea broke into the porch, unhung the doors and forced the door of the dwelling house and entered the lower rooms, causing considerable damage. The Grovers had faced a similar situation on October 31, 1829 as recorded in the keepers logbook. She did chores, roller skated on the islands boardwalk, searched tide-pools, worshipped with the family every evening, and picnicked on Sundays. To ease the burden, two assistant keepers, the stations first, were assigned to Boon Island in 1855. If you apply too much logic to itlook at the cost, the resale, and the amount of workit doesnt make sense, says Waller. Third Assistant: Isaac A. Dunham (1850), Kendall Pearson (1851), Samuel Gardiner (1851), W.H. Interested parties had sixty days to submit a letter of interest, after which they would be given an opportunity to inspect the lighthouse. Brazil. Its peaceful. . Every year storms seem to do more damage. The glacier land (called drumlins) under both the tower and the keepers house, where Snowman, 71, lived half the year for almost 20 years maintaining the place and giving tours, is shrinking. Seeing the keepers predicament, the assistants in the lighthouse sprang into action and used a rope to lower Assistant Keeper Whitman to the water where he was able to seize Reamy. Breakwaters, River Lights, Channel, Small Islands in Sounds. Their website is full of Black Hawk helicopters and former cop cars. Instead, Swift proposed a radical new design consisting of nine, sixty-foot-long iron pilings cemented five feet into the submerged rock, atop which would perch the lantern and keepers dwelling. The next day, the family gave thanks to the Creator for remembering them. which houses part of a third-order Fresnel lens used in the lighthouse can be seen at Government Island in Cohasset. Past Addresses: See available information. 3 south from Boston, to Route 228. Construction wasnt easy. Here was the new iron light-house, then unfinished, in the shape of an egg-shell painted red, and placed high on iron pillars, like the ovum of a sea monster floating on the wavesWhen I passed it the next summer it was finished and two men lived in it, and a lighthouse keeper said that in a recent gale it had rocked so as to shake the plates off the table. Plans for original Minots Ledge Lighthouse, Granite blocks being assembled at Cohasset in 1857, Base of tower as it appeared on July 1, 1859, two double-dwellings were built at Cohasset, Memorial plaque ready for lowering to seafloor. Sager was one of the final bidders for Graves Lighthouse in 2013 and acquired Maine's Boon Island Lighthouse earlier in 2014 from its private owner. Among other things, the lighthouse needs to be repointed and sealed up. Many link the name Boon Island to the wrecks of the trading vessel. View Bobby Sager results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. The other occupants of the island at the time were Head Keeper Williams and his wife, and S. H. Sawyer, who was filling in for Assistant Keeper Seaward, who was ashore taking care of his wife. But the Boston philanthropist was disappointed to learn. The stone dwelling designed for two keepers is occupied by three, two of whom have families. Hes arguably made it better. Lighthouse. At first, Boon Island was barely able to attract and retain a keeper. Phone Number: (661) 296-MJKV. . Crossing back over the bridge, we make our way up: five spiral clangy metal flights; past a bunk room, the keepers quarters, and a third-floor kitchen; and to the lantern room.