More on Whaleback

You can see galleries of photos of Whaleback Lighthouse from two site visits on pages posted by architect Deane Rykerson:

Whaleback Aug. 09

Whaleback Sept. 09

Hurricane Damage at Mount Desert Rock

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Mount Desert Rock Lighthouse with some faculty and students from the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. The light station is more than 20 miles from the nearest port on Mount Desert Island; it's nothing more than a stark pile of granite out in the ocean. When I was there, I felt like I was on another planet.

The light station was leased to the College of the Atlantic back in the late 1970s, after the light was automated and the Coast Guard removed its keepers. Under the Maine Lights Program coordinated by the Island Institute of Rockland, Mount Desert Rock Light, along with Great Duck Island Light, became the property of the College of the Atlantic in 1998. The college's Allied Whale program compiles and maintains catalogs for the North Atlantic populations of finback and humpback whales.

Mount Desert Rock suffered badly from the effects of Hurricane Bill in August 2009. The boathouse was mostly destroyed, and two walls of the generator shed were swept away. There was also water damage inside the keeper's house. This is a major setback for the College of the Atlantic's programs on the island. As Andrew Peterson, marine facilities superintendent for the college, aptly put it, "When it comes down to it, the ocean always wins."

You can read much more detail about the damage on this Facebook page.

If you would like to find out more about how you can help the whale research effort at Mount Desert Rock, please call Allied Whale at 207-288-5644.

Another Trip to Whaleback

Time is running out before the rough seas of fall and winter will make it difficult and dangerous to access Whaleback Lighthouse, located on a rocky ledge off Kittery, Maine, at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Today, six of us visited the lighthouse -- Deane Rykerson, architect; Sara Wermiel, historic preservation consultant; John Wathne, president of Structures North Consulting Engineers, Inc.; Ivan Myjer, masonry consultant; William Marshall, board of directors member of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse; and me, in my role as operations manager of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. We were taken out to the ledge by Neil Odams of Captain & Patty's Cruises of Kittery Point, and we transfered to a rubber inflatable boat to land at the ledge.

Above, paddling to the lighthouse. Photo by William Marshall.


Deane Rykerson is principal of Rykerson Architecture of Kittery Point, Maine. He has been involved in building, environment, and design for more than 30 years. With the help of the other consultants, he is heading up the Historic Structure Report of Whaleback Lighthouse that will serve as a blueprint for the restoration of the 1872 lighthouse, which is now owned by the American Lighthouse Foundation and its local chapter, Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. With the guidance of the report, we will be prioritizing and pricing out the various aspects of restoration in the coming years.

Landing at the ledge:















A compilation of quick video clips from today's visit:

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L to R: Deane Rykerson, John Wathne, Sara Wermiel, Ivan Myjer.

Whaleback Lighthouse at dusk

Took this photo last night during our weekly cruise with Neil Odams of Captain & Patty's Cruises of Kittery, Maine. See www.portsmouthharborlighthouse.org for more on these cruises.

American Lighthouse Foundation Interpretive Center

Earlier this summer, the American Lighthouse Foundation moved its headquarters to new digs at 464 Main Street in downtown Rockland, Maine. The new space includes interpretive exhibits and plenty of gifts for sale.

I finally made my first visit yesterday, and I'm tremendously impressed by all that's already been accomplished in the new space. If you're in Midcoast Maine, check it out!

Left: Bob Trapani, executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation, and Ann-Marie Trapani, associate director.

Exhibits in the new space tell the story of the lighthouses maintained by the chapters of the American Lighthouse Foundation. Visit www.lighthousefoundation.org for more information.

Lighthouse of the Week: Monomoy Point Light, Massachusetts

Monomoy was once a peninsula some eight miles or so in length and barely a quarter mile in width, extending southward from Chatham at the elbow of Cape Cod’s flexed arm. The name comes from “Munumuhkemoo,” an Algonquian word roughly meaning “mighty rush of water.”

Monomoy is at the dividing line between Nantucket Sound, to the west, and the deeper, colder Atlantic Ocean to the east. Where the sound and ocean meet—east and south of Monomoy—dangerous “rips” occur where as rapid ocean waves pass over shallow shoals and bars. Despite the menacing conditions, the passage between the southern end of Monomoy and Great Point, the northern extremity of Nantucket, was one of the Atlantic coast’s busiest stretches for many years.

Congress appropriated $3,000 for Monomoy’s first lighthouse—the fifth on Cape Cod—on March 3, 1823. The first Monomoy Point Light consisted of a wooden tower and iron lantern situated on the roof of a brick dwelling. The fixed white light was established on November 1, 1823.

The extant 40-foot, cast-iron tower erected in 1849 was one of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the United States. The Lighthouse Board’s annual report for 1857 mentioned that the tower had been lined with brick, and the annual report for 1869 announced that the illuminating apparatus and fixtures had been overhauled.

Asa L. Jones, a native of the Cape Cod town of Harwich, was keeper from 1875 to 1886. Jones, who was born in 1840, had been wounded in the Civil War. His young son, Maro B. Jones, kept a diary that provides a glimpse of life at the light station in the 1884–86 period. Here are some excerpts, beginning when Maro was eight or nine years old.

March 25, 1884: Good weather. Papa killed a black duck. March 31, 1884: Good weather. Papa bound a book. Seven geese came to the pond. Papa tried to shoot them. July 4, 1886: Not much of a Fourth of July for me. I never saw as much as an explosion with gunpowder. It is funny that today has been the most lonesome day of the summer. July 26, 1886: Mr. Ben Mallowes has got a sort of turtle and it looks like a sea cow. No one knows what it is, not even old whalers and Papa is going to write a man to come and get it.

James P. Smith, a native of Copenhagen and a former assistant keeper at Boston Light, became keeper in 1899. His wife died early in his stay at Monomoy, but Keeper Smith had three daughters—aged 24, 17, and 13 at the time of a 1904 article—who assisted him in his duties. The oldest daughter, Annie, acted as housekeeper and tended the light when her father was away. A reporter once asked the Smith sisters if life at the lighthouse was lonely. Annie replied, “Oh, no! We don’t have time to be lonesome. There is always something to do, with the housekeeping and the light.”

With the opening of the Cape Cod Canal in 1914, traffic past Monomoy decreased. The light was discontinued in 1923 and the property passed into private hands. The last private owners sold the buildings to the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1964. The property came under the management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in the 1970s.

The ferocious blizzard of February 6–7, 1978, cut Monomoy into two islands, North and South Monomoy. South Monomoy is a birdwatcher’s mecca, with more than 300 species having been spotted in recent years. Gray seals, once rare in New England, have been breeding on South Monomoy.

Capt. Keith Lincoln offers a variety of cruises on the Monomoy Island Ferry, including a visit to South Monomoy and the lighthouse. See www.monomoyislandferry.com or call (508) 945-5450.

2009 Lighthouse Art Raffle

This raffle benefits the restoration efforts of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. The organization cares for Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in New Castle, NH, and Whaleback Lighthouse in Kittery, Maine.

The drawing will be on December 12, 2009. Tickets are $5 each, 3 for $10. Click here to buy tickets.

First Prize

Original artwork by artist Randall Peterson depicting Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, valued at $1600. The original work of art is 8 by 10 inches and is signed by the artist and framed and matted in a 16 by 18-inch frame. The pen used to create the artwork will also be included.

The style and technique used in Peterson’s drawings is called pointillism or stippling. Dots are grouped together to form an image. The closer together the dots are, the darker the tones. Pointillism was first introduced in the 1880 by the French artist Georges-Pierre Seurat.

“With the tragedies and storms that may occur in our personal lives,” says Randall Peterson, “for many people the beacon of light from a lighthouse is a symbol that represents a sense of survival, strength, hope and peace. Today, from my heart, it is more rewarding and an inspiration for me as a person to create artwork that may give an emotional lift to others in finding a calmness in their lives.”

For more on Randall Peterson, visit www.lighthouse-artist.com.

Second Prize

A framed artist's proof print of the painting “Endeavour’s Run” by Julia O'Malley Keyes. The 12 by 18-inch print is matted in a 24 by 30-inch frame. The painting depicts the Endeavour, a 130-foot J Class sloop that was commissioned by Sir T.O.M. Sopwith and built by Camper & Nicholson at Gosport England to challenge for the America's Cup.

Ms. O'Malley-Keyes’s paintings are collected extensively in the United States, Europe, and Canada. She was voted as one of the “Top 400” most influential people on Cape Cod and is regarded as one of the most collected marine artists today. She resides in North Falmouth, Massachusetts, where she maintains her studio and art gallery. For more information, visit www.dayhillfineart.com.

Third Prize

A 16 by 20-inch print on canvas of the photograph “Boston Light at Sunset” by Jeremy D’Entremont. D’Entremont is the author of six books on lighthouse history and his photographs have appeared widely in many publications. His web site is www.lighthouse.cc.

Fourth Prize

2010 Maine Lighthouse Poster Calendar by award-winning graphic artist Alan Claude. Includes a dozen beautiful 11 by 14-inch prints of scenic Maine lighthouses.

Influenced by American realist painter Edward Hopper and European travel posters of the 1920s, Alan Claude's challenge was to create an original series with a certain freshness of expression. The Maine Lighthouse Collection Series is a way to honor these national historical treasures. You can visit Alan's website at: www.alanclaude.com.

Fifth Prize

Ten winners will receive signed limited edition prints of Randall Peterson’s pointilist drawing of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse.